Vietnam Men’s team cannot make a surprise in the home round of Australia
Despite their best efforts, the Vietnamese team still could not create a surprise in the second leg against Australia and lost 0-4 to the home team.
Australia went into the game looking to end a three-game winless run in the AFC Asian Qualifiers and get their quest to finish in the top two back on track, while Vietnam were seeking their first points of the campaign.
Just 20 seconds were on the clock when the hosts thought they’d gone in front after Martin Boyle’s centre was laid back by Maclaren and drilled home by Rogic, only for the referee to rule the goal out following a VAR intervention as Jackson Irvine was in an offside position.
Five minutes later, Mathew Leckie had a wonderful opportunity to open the scoring after being played through by Rogic, but goalkeeper Bui Tan Truong stood tall to block the Melbourne City star’s effort from the right side of the penalty area.
Leckie then headed debutant Joel King’s cross from the left narrowly wide as the 20-minute mark approached before the breakthrough finally arrived 10 minutes later.
Once again, Rogic was at the heart of things, with the Celtic midfielder’s floated delivery from the left expertly headed home by Maclaren for his seventh international goal and first in the third round of AFC Asian Qualifiers.
The Socceroos opened up a two-goal advantage in first-half stoppage time when Irvine fed Leckie, who slipped a neat through ball to the advancing Rogic to lift over the outrushing Tan Truong with a composed finish.
Vietnam had a rare sight on goal six minutes after the restart when their new captain Do Hung Dung laid the ball to Pham Tuan Hai, but he fired wide from just inside the box.
The Golden Star Warriors had upped the tempo and came agonisingly close in the 62nd minute when Nguyen Phong Hong Duy centred for Nguyen Cong Phuong, whose powerful attempt from just outside the six-yard box struck goalkeeper Mat Ryan on the shoulder and flew over the crossbar to safety.
But the hosts put the result beyond doubt in the 72nd minute when substitute Goodwin, on just six minutes earlier, ran onto Ryan’s long ball upfield, broke into the box and then produced a beautifully composed dink over Tan Truong for his first international goal.
Another substitute got in on the act just minutes later when Goodwin played to McGree, who created space for himself before drilling home low and hard into the bottom corner from just outside the area as he also opened his account for the Socceroos to complete the scoring.
Australia will next travel to Muscat to face Oman on Matchday Eight on Tuesday, while Vietnam will host regional rivals China PR in Hanoi on the same day.
