U23 Myanmar hold U23 Vietnam scoreless 0 – 0

Football is a mind game. And Myanmar certainly proved that tonight when for the second time in two matches, playing with ten men, they managed to avoid defeat.

This time, they held Vietnam to a scoreless draw in the second match day of Group B of men’s football that was played at the Lebak Bulus Stadium tonight.

While the last time, they managed to beat Laos 3-2 playing with ten men for much of the tie, this time round, they had to do without defender Moe Win right at the hour mark for a foul on Vietnam’s Nguyen Va Quyet.

For Vietnam, they put up a much better performance as compared to their first game against the Philippines. They were more seamless in their attacks but for some unfortunate defending, Pham Thanh Luong and co. could have snuck in the early goal.

Instead, the finished the first half with a disallowed goal when off a freekick Thanh Luong from the right, Le Van Thang’s sneaked in from the far post to slot the ball home.

But linesman Lim Kok Heng from Singapore was quick to raise the offside flag.

Myanmar seemed a little tired on the night – perhaps the result of the demanding game against Laos the previous day.

The loss of Moe Win did not gave the impetus for Vietnam to add to the pressure where instead, the hardworking Thanh Luong had to work very much on his own without any real support from his team-mates.

It was Myanmar who finished with the closest look at goal when two minutes to the end,  Zaw Zaw Oo broke through on the left but his cross to the waiting Aung Myint Aye was totally wasted as he shot straight to Vietnam keeper Tran Buu Ngoc.

Squad of U23 Viet Nam:

Goalkeeper: Buu Ngoc

Defender: Xuan Hieu, Long Giang – Huynh Phu, Ngoc Anh

Midfielder: Thanh Luong, Hoang Thinh – Trong Hoang, Van Binh (Hoang Thien 61′) (Thanh Trung 84′),

Striker: Van Quyet, Van Thang (Tuan Anh 78′)