MANILA – Vietnam national football team continued to have the numbers of the Philippine Azkals after dealing them a 4-2 beating in an international friendly match on New Year’s Day in Doha, Qatar.
It was the third time that the national men’s football team suffered a beating from Vietnam after the latter scored back-to-back wins in their two-leg 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup semifinals last December.
Vietnam, the newly-crowned AFF Suzuki Cup champion, imposed its dominance on the Azkals in the opening half with back-to-back conversions from Nguyen Quang Hai and Phan Van Duc.
The Vietnamese pushed its advantage further in the second half by adding two more conversions from veterans Doan Van Hau and Que Ngoc Hai.
The Azkals managed to pull two goals back in the second half, with one of them coming from Ceres Negros FC mainstay Patrick Reichelt.
The Azkals were in Doha, Qatar as part of their build up for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, which will run from Jan. 5 to Feb. 1 at United Arab Emirates.
The national men’s football team were bracketed in a tough Group C along with powerhouse teams South Korea, People’s Republic of China and Kyrgystan./PN
