VIENTIANE (18 Oct 2011) – Indonesia picked up their first win of the AFF Women’s Championship 2011 when they beat Singapore 3-1 on the third match day as a hat trick from striker Nguyen Thi Hoa led Vietnam 4-0 over hosts Laos at the National Stadium.
With the score tied scoreless at the end of the first half in a closely contested affair between Indonesia and Singapore, a strike from Henny right at the hour mark inspired the former to score two further goals over their ASEAN neighbour.
“The result was okay but the no performance could be better,” said Bambang Nurdiansyah, the chief coach of Indonesia.
Considering the standard of both teams, the game was always going to be close and one which could have gone either way.
Singapore created their first real chance in the game in the 23rd minute but Mastura Jeilani was just a little too react to the cross from Kristy Rose Ryan.
Four minutes later, Indonesia replied off a shot from captain Yudith Herlina Sada which forced Singapore keeper Kathleen Ng to scramble for the save. The score at the end of the first half was 0-0.
Indonesia stepped up the tempo in the second half and the change for Rulin Lina gave them more bite. Before long, a cross from the right off Akudiana Tebai in the 60th minute was knocked in by Henny for Indonesia’s first goal of the competition.
That inspired the rest of the players to push forward and some hard pressing later saw them nailing the second goal where off a cross from captain Yudith in the 72nd minute, Singapore defender Hamizah Abdul Talib’s clearance went into goal instead.
Six minutes to the end, Singapore pulled a goal back when after cutting in from the left, Noor Fatin Afiqah unleashed a grounder to beat Indonesian custodian Komala Oktapiana.
But deep in injury time, Indonesia had the last say in the game when Akudiana found the space and time to slot the ball home.
In the meantime, the loss of regular keeper Hongthong Choulapanh to a red card in the first game weighed heavily against the hosts and it took Vietnam only 73seconds to score their first goal of the game when Huynh Nhu broke through the entire Laos defence to score.
They then doubled their lead seven minutes later when from the left, Thi Hoa dribbled past two defenders before slotting home her first goal past substitute keeper Bounyong Akhavong.
Vietnam had several chances to add to the scoreline and struck the crossbar three times before they finally hit third and fourth goals off the industrious Thi Hoa (29th and 33rd minute) who switched attacks on both flanks.
With such a big lead, Vietnam were comfortable going into the second half and they did not push as hard as they had done in the first 45 minutes.
They hit the posts and the crossbar for two more times after that with Thi Hoa still a handful for the Laotian defence.
Following her substitution in the 68th minute for Pham Hai Yen, it gave Laos some breathing space and more opportunity to go into the attack but tried as hard as they could, there was no way they could get past the defence marshalled by the reliable Tran Thi Hong Nhung.
AFF WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP 2011
(All matches at the National Stadium unless indicated otherwise)
GROUP A: Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Laos
GROUP B: Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines
16 Oct 2011: VIETNAM 9 SINGAPORE 1 / INDONESIA 0 LAOS 11
17 Oct 2011: MYANMAR 2 PHILIPPINES 0 / THAILAND 8 MALAYSIA 1
18 Oct 2011: SINGAPORE 1 INDONESIA 3 / LAOS 0 VIETNAM 4
19 Oct 2011: Philippines vs Thailand (1600) / Malaysia vs Myanmar (1900)
20 Oct 2011: Laos vs Singapore (1900 at National Stadium) / Indonesia vs Vietnam (1900 at Chao Anouvong Stadium) /
21 Oct 2011: Myanmar vs Thailand (1900 at National Stadium) / Philippines vs Malaysia (1900 at Chao Anouvong Stadium)
23 Oct 2011: Winner A vs Runner-up B (1600) / Winner B vs Runner-up A (1900)
25 Oct 2011: 3rd/4th (1600) / Final (1900)
