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Simply final week, Vietnam turned the primary group eradicated from the third and remaining spherical of Asian qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup after struggling a seventh consecutive defeat of the marketing campaign.
On Tuesday, with the strain lastly lifted, the Vietnamese produced the show many anticipated they had been able to as they claimed an outstanding 3-1 win over China PR at My Dinh Nationwide Stadium.
It was the Southeast Asian nation’s first-ever overcome the Chinese language, and ensures they are going to at the very least have a victory and three factors to indicate for his or her efforts of their maiden look at this stage of World Cup qualifying.
Maybe extra importantly, the consequence might additionally show that Vietnam stay heading in the right direction beneath coach Park Hold-seo regardless of a collection of disappointing outcomes prior to now 12 months.
Qualifying for the World Cup from a bunch consisting of continental heavyweights resembling Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia was all the time going to be bridge too far, however failure to choose up a degree of their first seven matches of the third spherical of Asian qualifiers — even in opposition to the likes of Oman and China — did trigger some eyebrows to be raised.
The outcomes had been removed from embarrassing however Park nonetheless got here beneath criticism for a perceived lack of journey, particularly given the Vietnamese entered the marketing campaign with nothing a lot to lose.
However the strain actually mounted on the finish of final 12 months when Vietnam — trying to defend their Southeast Asian crown at AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 – had been eradicated from the semifinals by eventual champions Thailand, with their stunning second-place end in Group B behind Indonesia finally proving expensive they needed to meet their fellow joint-favourites sooner than anticipated.
But, with China additionally struggling for kind, Tuesday’s tie did look like Vietnam’s greatest probability of selecting up at the very least a primary level of the marketing campaign — they usually duly delivered.
Proper from the opening whistle, Park’s fees displayed elevated ranges of endeavour and intent, opening the scoring by Ho Tan Tai’s close-range header after 9 minutes earlier than Nguyen Tien Linh doubled their lead seven minutes later.
A speculative long-range effort by Phan Van Duc within the 76th minute then successfully put the consequence past doubt, though the Chinese language did handle an injury-time comfort by a Xu Xin effort.
Regardless of the victory, Vietnam nonetheless want at the very least one other optimistic consequence if they’re to keep away from a bottom-place end, however they need to actually be gunning for that of their subsequent match in opposition to Oman in March earlier than ending with a tricky take a look at in opposition to Japan.
Ought to they produce a few equally enterprising performances then, it will actually assist the reinvigorate the temper forward of their preparations for what can be a much more real looking goal than qualifying for the World Cup — emulating their run to the quarterfinals on the final AFC Asian Cup when the match is held as soon as once more in China subsequent 12 months.
After the preliminary excessive of the Park Hold-seo period was tempered barely by a collection of disappointing outcomes, Tuesday’s spectacular victory was a well timed reminder that Vietnam might nonetheless reinvent themselves and proceed to have a vibrant future with the South Korean on the helm.
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