Thai Son Nam revive quarter-final hopes with impressive win
Ho Chi Minh City: Thai Son Nam FC kept alive their quarter-final hopes in the AFC Futsal Club Championship Vietnam 2017 after powering to a convincing 9-2 victory over Australia’s Vic Vipers on Saturday.
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Following their surprise defeat at the hands of FC EREM on the opening day, the expectations around the Phú Th? Indoor Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City was palpable. Thai Son Nam sprung from the blocks in the opening minutes, eager to make amends and repay the faith of the returning fans.
The first sign that things were about to fall in favour of the home side came after just twenty seconds with Pham Duc Hoa volleying his effort after Lukaian Baptista’s inch-perfect delivery. The ball sailed over the crossbar but the intent was clear.
One minute later, Thai Son Nam took the lead through Le Quoc Nam whose powerful left-foot curler was too much for Christos Apostolakis to handle. The home side then came close to adding to their lead, with Baptista and Duc Hoa combining yet again but the latter saw his low effort hitting Apostolakis’ right post.
The Vietnamese then doubled their lead three minutes later, Tran Van Vu played a short corner to Nguyen Minh Tri who deceived the Vic Vipers defence with a dummy, steering the ball instead for Phung Trong to slot home.
The Australian side were made to weather further onslaught after a slick interchange between Baptista and Quoc Nam freed an unmarked Duc Hoa for his second with an easy tap-in five minutes later.
Minh Tri was the provider again for Thai Son Nam’s fourth, laying off for Tran Thai Huy (pictured above, right) who feigned with his right foot to pull away from his marker before unleashing a left -foot scorcher, arguably the best of the half, three minutes later.
The home side would add a fifth before half-time when Scott Rogan was penalised for a tug on Iranian Hossein Tayebibidgoli (pictured below, left) in the area. The former Giti Pasand forward stepped up and made no mistake from the spot to give Thai Son Nam a healthy lead going into the break
Five minutes into the restart, Phung Trong Luan added his second of the night after some woeful defending by Adam Cooper, who gifted the ball away just metres from his goal. Duc Hoa then snatched his hat-trick a minute later, getting on the end of Van Vu’s corner. Van Vu then turned poacher with a sublime effort, teasing with his right foot before driving home with a powerful left-legged shot beyond the helpless Apostolakis.
The away side managed to pull one back when Jason Barrientos reacted quickly after Cooper’s thundering free-kick rebounded twice, first off the keeper then the left post. The home side responded not long after with Tayebibidgoli grabbing his second with a long-range effort to beat a poorly positioned Apostolakis. Vic Vipers went on to add another towards the end, courtesy of Jordan Constantinidis (pictured right), but the game was too far gone for the Australians to salvage.
Thai Son Nam’s victory sets up an epic encounter with Group A leaders Al Dhafrah, with nothing less than a convincing victory required to stay within distance of a quarter-final berth as FC Erem prepare to take on Vic Vipers. Both matches are on Monday.
Miguel Rodrigo (Thai Son Nam Head Coach)
"Today was a complete opposite from the first day. I could see the motivation was there, especially in defence and the way we pressed high, it made all the difference. You could tell the Australians were a bit tired but take nothing away from my players. This is the type of high-tempo modern futsal that I have been trying to get us to play.
"The fans were amazing, they were our sixth man, and I hope they will continue to show us such fantastic support in our next match. "
Miltiadis Sakkos ( Vic Vipers Head Coach)
"Obviously, I am disappointed with the result. We started off badly and couldn’t recover from then on. It’s now time to recover, regroup and most importantly, play with pride in the next game. It is a matter of going back to the basics, back to the fundamentals, get the simple things right."
Photos: AFC
Source: the-afc.com
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