Football

Ngọc Minh Chuyên of Việt Nam stars in the 11-0 win against Singapore on March 9. — Photos of VFF

PHÚ THỌ — Ngọc Minh Chuyên scored five goals to lead Việt Nam to victory against Singapore during the AFC U20 Women's Asian Cup's qualification at the Việt Trì Stadium, Phú Thọ Province.

Her teammates Tạ Thị Thu Thủy and Nguyễn Thị Hải Yến also hit braces, contributing to their 11-0 win on March 9.

Chuyên pushed the hosts in the lead in the second minute, taking advantage of Singapore's defensive mistakes.

Thủy secured her double in the 13th and 17th minutes before Chuyên netted again to put the home side 4-0 up going into the break.

Any hope of a Singapore comeback was extinguished with Yến scoring two minutes after the restart and another at the 64th minute. Trần Nhật Lan and Lưu Hoàng Vân scored one each while Chuyên's a second half hattrick to put Việt Nam up 11-0.

"We set a target of three points from this match. Then, when we have good game, we want to have a big win so that we can have a better goal difference compared to our rival (India). My players did it," said coach Akira Ijiri of Việt Nam. "The victory gives us momentum ahead of the last group round match."

Vietnamese players celebrate their victory.

Striker Chuyên expressed her happiness with five goals in one game.

"I am surprised we received such strong support from local fans. I have never played in such a wonderful atmosphere before. Fans' cheering and encouraging really helped us to play better," said Chuyên. "I am happy with today's result and promise to win the last match."

On the other side, coach Hew Seem Chris of Singapore said Việt Nam had a good match. The team was stronger than those she played last year. She hoped that in the next meet, Singapore would perform much better.

In the earlier match, India showed its strength beating Indonesia 6-0.

Neha and Sumati Kuamri each scored a brace while Kajol Hubert and Apurna Narzary had one each.

Neha scored in the fourth and 22nd minutes before Hubert added another to give India a 3-0 lead going into the break.

Narzary netted the fourth in the 56th minute before Kumari scored in the 74th and added time to complete the win.

India beat Indonesia 6-0 for the second spot in the ranking.

Indonesia tried hard but could not resist Indian attacks while their forwards failed to find a way to beat the Indian keeper.

After two matches, Việt Nam is on top of Group G with six points. India is second with the same points but less goal differential.

The two will battle for the top spot when they meet on March 11 with only the group winners to advance to the next round of the qualifiers.

Ijiri said he wanted to beat India to have all three wins in the first qualifying round.

"I appreciate India which has good players. But we have prepared well for the tournament and we are ready to play any rival," said Ijiri, whose team received a bonus of VNĐ300 million (US$12,600 ) for their outstanding performance.

Maymol Rocky also confirmed her team's determination against the hosts.

"It will not be easy to qualify for the next round but we will try our best for the only slot," she said. "We watched Việt Nam's matches and know that they are strong with great local supporters. We will have one day to recover and we will do everything to have the best result."

Disqualified Indonesia and Singapore will play in the earlier game.

Chris said Singapore would definitely play their best in the last match. After two big losses, the final game should have a positive result.

Indonesian Rudy Eka Priyambada was disappointed with the team's second loss.

He said it was because of a large gap between two teams in the world ranking.

"India is No. 61 while Indonesia is No. 97. They played in the World Cup in the past too, so they are a strong rival," said Priyambada, who also wanted to have a point from the match against Singapore on Saturday. — VNS