Solomon Islands goes down to Vietnam in first friendly match of Asian Tour

The Kurukuru had started their Asian Tour in Vietnam with a defeat to home side; the final result was 5-0 for the Vietnamese squad. Vietnam is placed 15 spots ahead of the Solomon Islands in the FIFA Futsal rankings. Both sides are preparing for the World Cup qualifications, the Pacific Islanders will contest for a spot in the worldwide tournament still this year.

Vietnam had to battle hard to surpass Anthony Talo in the opening half as they did it in the final minutes with a fortunate goal; the ball bounced in the post and hit the back of the experienced goalkeeper and went to the nets to open the scoreline for the Southeast Asian side.

After 12 minutes of the second half, Nguyen Tran Duy scored to double the lead for the Vietnamese and three minutes later Nguyen Thinh Phat scored the third for the home team. Vietnam still had time to add another through Duong Ngoc Linh. Solomon Islands in the dying minutes subbed Talo to another outfield play to press Vietnam to try to score. In the final seconds the South Pacific team was punished as the Vietnam team scored another goal from long range after a fast recovery of the ball – with an empty net – the goalscorer was Nguyen Huu Phuc, sealing the final result by 5-0 in favour of Vietnam.

Overall, the fans seemed satisfied with the outing of Solomon Islands. Vietnam in the 2021 World Cup was able to qualify past the group stage and gave a huge fight to Russia in the Round of 16 going down by 3-2. The squad is new, a mix of experienced players such as Ragomo and Talo, but consisting as well of players in their first outing for the Kurukuru, as Benjamin Mana and Calvin Do’oro.

Both teams will face each other one more time before the end of the Asian Tour; the Damon Shaw-coached side went down fighting in the first match and they can expect an even better performance in the second friendly.