Vietnam got off to a great start when Van Tung headed the ball past Laos goalkeeper into the net, following a good cross from Thanh Nhan from the right side, just 2 minutes in.

Van Tung enjoys his opening goal.

With the early lead, coach Troussier's team tried to reduce the match’s tempo, but some sloppy defending still gave Laos some good chances.

The game turned out to be an interesting back-and-forth between the two teams. Despite some good chances created by both sides, notably Van Do’s freekick at the 16th minute which forced a save from keeper Thilavong, the first half ended with 1 goal advantage to Vietnam.

The second half was similar to the first, where there were great chances for both teams to score, but both goalkeepers did their job well.

Towards the end of the match, Laos piled on the pressure to try to equalize, and came really close. In the 75th minute, Theo headed the ball from a freekick straight at the crossbar, and the subsequent shot by Chony was saved by Van Chuan. The Vietnamese keeper also denied Xaypanya’s left-footed strike at the 88th minute from an unmarked position in the penalty box.

Vietnam delivered the final blow to Laos in the last minutes of the game. At the 2nd minute of added time, substitute Quoc Viet delivered a tidy close-range finish from Van Khang’s low cross in a counterattack, closing out the game 2-0 for Vietnam.

Despite the win, coach Troussier’s boys still have much to improve if they want to successfully defend the title.

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Source: VnExpress