| Fadhil Yunus |
BRUNEI Darussalam national futsal team suffered their third consecutive defeat at the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Futsal Championship following an 18-0 defeat to Vietnam at the Phu Tho Indoor Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam last night.
The Wasps remained in fourth place in Group ‘A’ without a point to their name but are ahead of the Philippines due to a better goal difference.
They only require a draw against the Azkals but given that the pair had been on receiving ends of constant humiliations both sides will be keen to end the campaign in the win column.
Vietnam’s Vu Quoc Hung sliced a pass to Co Tri Kiet who released the ball to the onrushing Ngo Ngoc Son with the midfielder poking the ball past Brunei goalkeeper Nabil Maidin.
The Vietnamese added a second and though there was an element of luck over Vu Quoc Hung’s goal which had taken a deflection off a Brunei Darussalam player it was coming.
Vietnam’s defender Khong Dinh Hung’s effort nearly crept its way into goal after initially slamming the post and bouncing off Nabil but the goalkeeper managed to retrieve the ball.
Vietnam’s midfielder Tran Thai Huy pulled a snapshot from the left flank but Nabil gathered the ball.
Brunei midfielder Naqib Timbang would have nightmares of the Thai Son Nam midfielder sidestepping him with his quick feet before finding enough space to drive a fine shot in between the goalkeeper’s legs.
The threat was not visible at first when the Kota Junior man gave space to force Tran into a decision but the Vietnamese cleverly lured his marker into covering him with his individual play miles ahead than the thinking of the Bruneian defence.
Brunei had a rare sight on goal through a counterattack after the Golden Star were caught out straight from the corner with Yamin bin Haji Muhammad covering nearly the whole length of the pitch but unfortunately he was put off by Tran with his shot straight at goalkeeper Ngo Dinh Thuan. The miss proved to be costly as straight in the other end Vietnam extended their lead as Dinh Van Toan bypassed the defence to blast home into the top corner.
Vietnam’s Vu Xuan Du easily beat a Bruneian defender before testing substitute goalkeeper Husin Aji who pulled off a routine save before his team-mate cleared the ball out of play.
Brunei nearly scored an own goal after Co’s pass was diverted into goal by a Bruneian defender but Husin kicked the ball out to safety.
The Golden Star made it 5-0 which initiated from patient play from Vu Xuan who found Co all alone and in position to pull the trigger.
Co sent a fierce drive into the area which bounced off Brunei’s Arif Eisa and Phung Trong Luan was the grateful recipient who needed no invitation to slam a powerful shot home.
With the tournament hosts expecting to score a diversity of goals against a side yet to register their first goal this campaign, they crafted a goal through a well-worked move from Phung Trong who laid a fine ball into the far post for Ngo Ngoc to fire home his second of the game.
Tran, who proved to be so hard to defend, repeated a similar move which led to his first goal as Husin felt the full force of his strike though the ball went temporarily clear out of Brunei’s goal.
Vietnam duly scored a seventh which required little effort with Tran turning provider as Le Quoc Nam picked his spot into the bottom corner.
Tran had the chance to make it eighth but Nabil made himself looked big to narrow the angle for the midfield enforcer.
Vu Quoc started the move with a simple pass before Ngo Ngoc took advantage of unconvincing defending from Abdul Azim Boll Hassan and sprinted his way into the box before setting up Vu Xuan to slide home into the empty net.
Vu Quoc was the architect again for Vietnam’s ninth goal of the game after finding Ngo Ngoc who finished with aplomb.
Tran had an uncharacteristic misplaced pass and gestured an apology to his teammates with Brunei receiving the ball on the opposition’s territory but they were made to play backwards.
The midfielder then struck a rasping drive which Nabil parried the ball away but before long a fast response through a kick-in enabled him a simple task of steering the ball home.
Vietnam’s defender Danh Phat swivelled before firing a low shot home before Tran completed his hat-trick after being teed off by Le Quoc.
Again Naqib would have nightmares after he was easily passed through by Le Quoc who simply brought the ball forward without much resistance.
Brunei had no intentions to bring the ball forward as they were pushed back into their own half.
Azizan bin Roslan’s diagonal ball to Faiz Hasnan had promise to their build-up but it turned into something discouraging when they chose to play backwards.
Their lack of attacking purpose played into the hands of Vietnam as Azizan bin Roslan was forced into making the wrong pass as Danh gleefully accepted the ball and rifling the ball home past a hapless Nabil.
The Golden Star enjoyed a well worked move after Ngo Ngoc produced a tidy finish after receiving a fine pass.
Tran grabbed his fourth goal in the game after collecting a loose ball after being set up by Dinh Van moments after Maziri Maidin had lost the ball.
Phung Trong was toying with the Bruneian defence and goalkeeper before lobbing the ball home with what appeared to be the classiest finish of the game and showed gamesmanship too with muted celebrations.
The Wasps managed to prevent the Vietnamese from scoring for the last six minutes of the game until the final 23 seconds of play when Phung Trong powered home a thunderous shot before Danh Phat completed the scoring with a hat-trick.
Vietnam and Myanmar confirmed their berth in the last four as Indonesia bowed out of the tournament following a 3-2 defeat to the White Angels in an earlier kick-off.
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