Cong Vinh lelf his halmark on the two goals for Olympic Vietnam

In the match with the western Asian football team, the host Olympic Vietnam entered the first-half with slow speed of defencing tactics and a defender-crowded line-up.So, it was no surprise that Olympic Lebanon made the very first shots. Cong Vinh played as a free kicker. The Nghe An-born striker uninteruptedly moved to all corners of the field to effectively support his team-mates. He capitalized on an error by Olympic Lebanon defender Al Haf  for a penalty goal at the 33th minute, putting Olympic Vietnam ahead. Al Haf used his hands to clear a Cong Vinh right corner while he was at the penalty area. Referee blew a penalizing whistle. The goal was a momentous turning-point of the match. The more the match went on, the more confident the young Vietnamese players felt. In contrast, the guest team became confused.

The Vietnamese players of Coach Mai Duc Chung kept cool in the second-half. The host team hit the rivals and had many opportunities to goal. Unfortunately, Anh Duc, Tien Thanh and Van Bien failed to convert them to goal shots.

Olympic Lebanon just made real attacks in the midfield although it had more advantageous line-up than Olympic Vietnam. They rarely made line attacks to take benefits of passes for goal. Such ways of playing was easily neutralized by stick-on-the-heel, fierce save and well-organized protective tactics of the Vietnamese defenders. Olympic Vietnam had goalkeeper Duc Cuong to thank in the 83^rd minute for his fantastic save when a Lebanon player surprisingly put his header past the Vietnamese defenders for an equalizer. In the 90^th minute, Cong Vinh flicked a wonderful pass from the host team’s field to striker Phuc Hiep who ran on to catch the ball and scored a final goal, fixing the 2-0 victory over Olympic Lebanon.

This is the first victory of a Vietnamese football team over a western Asia football  team.It is very meaningful for the Vietnamese players because it helps them feel confident in other matches later against such rivals. With this victory, Olympic Vietnam fairly paid off “the old debt” that its seniors “borrowed” from Lebanon League 3 years ago in the knock-out round of 2006 World Cup. The team becomes now more confident to enter guest matches of the same group against Olympic Oman and Olympic Indonesia this March.

• Reported by Le Cuong
• Translated by To Uyen