India Suffer Defeat To Vietnam In Hung Thinh Football Tournament

India suffered a 0-3 thrashing at the hands of a higher-ranked Vietnam in the second and final match of the Hung Thinh Friendly Football Tournament in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday. It was a reality check for the 104th ranked Indians after three convincing wins in June in the Asian Cup qualifiers and a 1-1 draw against Singapore in this tournament on Saturday as they were literally outplayed by the 97th ranked Vietnam in the second half.

Phan Van Duc (10th), Nguyen Van Toan (49th) and Nguyen Van Quyet (70th) scored for Vietnam to no reply from the Indians whose defenders had a mediocre outing, especially in the second half.

The Indians, however, were on equal terms with their opponents in the first half only to be blown away in the second session.

Vietnam won the tournament with two wins from as many matches. They had also thrashed Singapore 4-0 in their opening match.

India and Vietnam had played many a memorable matches in the past, one among them being the 2002 LG Cup final which India triumphed 3-1 having come back from behind to win the trophy.

India and Vietnam last met in 2010 in an international friendly in Pune with the Blue Tigers running out 3-1 winners with Chhetri scoring a hat-trick.

But since then, Vietnam football has been on the ascendancy and they have been able to compete with the top teams of the continent. Earlier this year, they reached the final round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and also made it to the last eight stage of the 2019 Asian Cup. The home side did not take long to surge ahead with Phan Van Duc finding the target in the 10th minute. The goal, though, could have been avoided had keeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and central defender Sandesh Jhingan communicated well.

Both Gurpreet and