Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tashkent: Duong Anh Tung and Tran Van Vu were at the double as Vietnam qualified for the quarter-finals of the AFC Futsal Championship for the second successive time with an 8-1 victory over Tajikistan in Group C on Saturday and in turn eliminated their Central Asian opponents.
Bruno Formoso’s Vietnam took the lead early at Universal Stadium through Anh Tung only for Fayzali Sardorov to equalise at the midway stage of the first half, but further strikes from Van Vu and captain Nguyen Bao Quan put the Southeast Asians 3-1 to the good at the interval.
Anh Tung then headed in his second shorly after the restart before Le Quoc Nam, Tran Long Vu, Phung Trong Luan and Van Vu all scored to ensure Vietnam joined Thailand in the last eight ahead of the two sides’ table-topping decider on Monday.
“I’m really happy with the performance because we dominated the game,” said Spaniard Formoso, whose side will go into the clash against their Southeast Asian rivals above them on goal difference with both teams on maximum points after two wins from two.
"It’s difficult to play against a team like Tajikistan because they defend well and play a direct style, but we scored the first goal so they needed to open up more.
“We were comfortable in the first half and then played really well in the second. We followed our identity and pressed the ball, wanted possession and attacked.
“We scored more goals and got more confident as the game went on … we now also have a very good goal difference.”
Vietnam got off to the perfect start when Bao Quan’s cross-cum-shot was side-footed into the back of the net by Anh Tung in the first minute.
But Tajikistan came back strongly and levelled in the ninth minute after Akbarjon Ortuqov’s effort was parried out by goalkeeper Nguyen Van Huy and Sardorov knocked home the rebound.
In an end-to-end opening period Vietnam went back in front seven minutes before the interval when Van Vu’s fizzing free-kick went under Firuz Bekmurodov in the Tajik goal.
Then on the stroke of half-time Tran Van Vu broke through before playing in Quoc Nam, and after his first effort was blocked by Bekmurodov, Bao Quan was on hand to tap into an empty net.
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And not long into the second half Vietnam opened up a three-goal advantage when Bao Quan found Ngo Ngoc Son down the left, and his perfect cross was headed home by Anh Tung for his second of the night.
The Southeast Asians then all but wrapped things up in the 27th minute when Tran Van Vu’s curling effort was tapped in by Quoc Nam for his second of the tournament.
With Formoso’s team in cruise control, Long Vu made it 6-1 seven minutes from time before Trong Luan and Van Vu wrapped up the scoring.
“I didn’t expect us to play like we did today, maybe after the first game they were a little tired,” said Tajikistan coach Husein Shodiev, whose side will look to pick up their first points of the campaign against Chinese Taipei on Monday.
“In the first game against Thailand we played on the counter-attack; today I told them they must attack more but we ended up conceding goals.”
Photo: AFC