HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam proved their power with an 8-0 over Singapore in their second round match of the 2018 Asian Cup’s qualification yesterday in Hà Nội.

Việt Nam jumped to top of Group D after two wins, and were tied on six points with second-placed Myanmar but with a better goal difference.

Coach Mai Đức Chung gave a chance to his young players as he filled the field with five new names compared with the first match two days ago.

But they had no difficulty against the underdog rivals who could not make a single on-target shootout in the first 45 minutes. The Vietnamese side on the other hand scored a goal every 11 minutes on average and closed the first half 4-0.

Midfielder Tuyết Dung needed only eight minutes to open the score with a close-range finish.

Dung and her teammates wasted a dozen of chance before they added the second one from a penalty by Việt Nam Player of 2016 Huỳnh Như. Two other goals went to Vũ Thị Nhung and Trần Thị Thùy Trang.

The second half was no better for the visitors.

While Singapore goalie Noor Kusumawati Mohammad Rosman worked very hard to save her goal, Vietnamese keeper Trần Thị Kim Thanh had almost no chance to touch the ball.

Như added two more goals to complete her hat-trick, the second one for Việt Nam in two matches. Nguyễn Thị Bích Thùy scored one before substitute Nguyễn Thị Nguyệt finalised the final score of the game.

“I don’t want to talk about the result because Việt Nam have been always considered a stronger team. But Singapore showed their better skills compared with what they performed in our tournaments previously,” said Chung, and added that he was satisfied with the win and Vietnamese players were safe and strong for the next matches.

On the other side, coach Caying Chen of Singapore said Việt Nam were in a higher level. They showed a rapid and advanced playing style that Singapore failed to catch up with.

She said her players were not professional players so they had to work hard to resist the challenge from Việt Nam. However, it was a good chance for them to play better in the future.

In the next round tomorrow, Việt Nam will play Iran who are at third place with three points. Singapore, standing at fourth, will meet Myanmar who beat Syria 14-0 on Thursday. — VNS