Vietnam futsal national team near advance to the quarter-final after win over Saudi Arabia national team with a score of 3-1 in the AFC Futsal Asian Cup 2022 group stage group D at Saad Al-Abdullah hall, Kuwait City.
Vietnam, however, were able to weather the early storm and started putting pressure on Saudi goalkeeper Humood Aldahhan with some brilliant set-up plays in the box, but failed to get their shots on target.
Vietnam, who had to fight back from an early deficit to emerge 5-1 winners against Korea Republic, finally broke the deadlock in the 12th minute through Nguyen Anh Duy’s close-range effort, after Aldahhan had parried Chao Doan Phat’s initial strike.
Saudi Arabia came close to restoring parity two minutes later when the Vietnamese defence was caught off guard by a lobbed ball forward which found Mohamed Farhan at the top of the box, but a sliding Fahad Muhalhil Rudayni failed to connect to the subsequent pass.
Andreu Plaza’s Saudi Arabia closed the half the livelier of the teams but Vietnam’s man-to-man marking easily dealt with the threat as the Southeast Asians took their lead into the break.
Saudi Arabia started the second half in overdrive as they searched for the equalizer with Aldahhan playing an active role in pushing Vietnam back into their own half, but the strategy backfired in the 29th minute when Mohsen Mohammed Fqihe was dispossessed, and with the keeper out of position, Chau Doan Phat had the simple task of placing the ball in a gaping goalmouth.
Despite falling further behind, Saudi Arabia stuck to their game plan and Aldahhan helped narrow the deficit in the 30th minute when his superb right-footed strike into the area saw Vietnam’s Chau deflecting the ball into his own net.
Ho Van Y was the busier custodian in the final five minutes but Saudi Arabia’s aggression backfired once more in the final two seconds when Nguyen Minh Tri pounced on a deflected ball before firing into the empty goalmouth.
Vietnam will face Japan next on Sunday, while Saudi Arabia take on Korea Republic.
Credit Photo : AFC
