Australia had no answer to Quang Hai’s deflected long-range strike and the result leaves both teams level on three points after two rounds of matches, with the Olyroos defeating Syria and Vietnam losing to Korea Republic in their respective openers.

Victory over Syria in their final group game on Wednesday would be enough to take the Vietnamese into the last eight while Australia face a significant challenge to stay alive in the tournament when they take on the Koreans.

Ante Milicic made eight changes from the team that handed Syria a 3-1 defeat, with George Blackwood, who scored twice for the Olyroos, rested and Bruce Kamau, who claimed his side’s other goal, unavailable due to injury.

The fluidity the Australians displayed in that win was absent in the first half against the Vietnamese with the Southeast Asian side wresting the initiative from Milicic’s team as the half wore on.

Australia’s Ajdin Hrustic twice tried his luck from long range, seeing his free-kick with 12 minutes on the clock saved by Bui Tien Dung before firing just wide 10 minutes later.

 

With the draw, the Syrians picked up their first point of the tournament after losing their opening game against Australia while the result moves Korea Republic to the top of the Group D standings with four points with one round of matches remaining.

Kim Bong-gil’s team will take on Australia on Wednesday knowing a draw will be enough to secure a place in the knockout phase while Syria meet Vietnam, who defeated the Olyroos earlier in the day, needing to win to keep their chances alive.

Yoon Seung-won was the source of most of what was positive for the Koreans in the opening 45 minutes as the striker carved out a pair of opportunities, one from open play and the other due to his dead ball delivery, but neither caused serious concern.

But it was the Syrians who went closest to finding the back of the net in the first half with Mohamad Rafat firing his shot narrowly wide of the top corner after spearheading a rapid-fire break for Afash’s side five minutes before the break.

 

Quang Hai’s deflected shot 18 minutes from time was enough to separate the teams and give the Vietnamese their first win of the competition after losing 2-1 to Korea Republic in their opening game.

"I’m very happy as we won against the Australia team,” said the 20-year-old Hanoi FC midfielder. “Our team lost in the first match, so we tried to do something better today.

"Compared with the first match, we played much better against Australia. We were more confident, there was a lot of confidence in every position in the team and we fixed some of the mistakes from the first match, and that's why we were better.”

The Koreans were held to a 0-0 draw by Syria on Sunday after kicking off their campaign with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Vietnam and Han was left frustrated by the failure to score against Hussein Afash’s team.

"I am not satisfied in our performance, as we didn't perform as we expected,” he told the-AFC.com. “In the second half we tried to play our style but we couldn't get the good finishing, and that's why we drew.

"In the first match against Vietnam, there was no space for us to play as we wanted, while against Syria there was a lot of pressure from the opponents. The Syria attacking line was good, and they were good physically too, so it was totally different.”