Vinh header takes Kazakhstan down

Vinh only came on to the pitch in the 83rd minute after veteran striker Dang Phuong Nam was substituted. His winning header puts Viet Nam second in the table behind Thailand, who beat Singapore 2-0 also on Tuesday.

Viet Nam took control of the game from the start with a number of chances coming from wing attacks and strong midfield support from last year”s Golden Ball winner Phan Van Tai Em, Nguyen Minh Phuong and Le Hong Minh. Twenty-one minutes into the game, right wingback Le Tan Tai, who has maintained the form he showed at last December”s Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in the Philippines, raced along the right wing before passing infield to Huynh Quang Thanh in the 18-yard-box, He connected with Le Hong Minh in the centre who fired the goal into the back of the net for Viet Nam”s first goal.

The former Soviet Union team, who showed excellent fitness levels and power, played a longball game, but struggled in the hot Bangkok weather. Midfielder Eduard Sergiyenko on the left wing caused problems for Viet Nam but it was only in the 57th minute, after a double substitution by coach Arno Pijpers at half time, that Murat Sumagambetov managed to get on the end of a pass by Andrey Finonchenko inside the area. Finonchenko”s shot was parried by Vietnamese keeper Duong Hong Son only to find Sumagametov who shot the ball into the back of the net.

Kazakhstan seemed inspired following the goal, and Viet Nam”s Austrian coach Alfred Riedl was forced to substitute strikers Le Cong Vinh, Phan Thanh Binh and midfielder Le Vu Phong.

But the match was decided minutes from the end, when Vinh, who had been denied three times earlier in the half by keeper Mokin, got on the end of a lob by Vu Phong, who managed to leap above the towering Kazakh defence to head home the winner from 4m out.

In the opening matches of the tournament on Sunday, despite an early goal by striker Phan Thanh Binh, Viet Nam lost 2-1 to Thailand, while Singapore were held to a goalless draw by Kazakhstan.

All 25 members of the Vietnamese football squad have been called up for the King”s Cup, which is seen as an ideal testing ground for the ASEAN Football Championship, which are being co-hosted by Singapore and Thailand next year.

Perhaps the only disappointment so far in the competition has been veteran Dang Phuong Nam, 30, who plays for First Division The Cong Viettel (Army team). He has been out of the national team since the SEA Games in 1999 and has not connected well with the younger players. However, Nam”s former The Cong teammates Nguyen Manh Dung, who is considered the best sweeper in Vietnamese football, and Vu Nhu Thanh did good jobs in defence.

VNS