PHILIPPINES STUNS DEFENDING SUZUKI CUP CHAMPIONS VIETNAM 2-0
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 06 Dec 2010
Fresh from a confidence-boosting 1-1 draw against three time Suzuki Cup winners Singapore in their opening match, the Philippines stunned defending champions Vietnam 2-0 and silenced a crowd of 40,000 at the My Dinh Stadium on Sunday night sending the Filipinos to the top of their Group with 4 points.
The Philippines will enter the semi finals should they beat Myanmar who lost to Vietnam 7-1 in the Filipinos final group clash on Wednesday.
The win by the Philippines in the game which was telecast ?live? by Star Sports sparked a flood of congratulatory messages on social networking sites Twitter and Facebook and showed a new found resurgence of interest in soccer where the country was a force to reckon with in the 1940?s to the 1960?s.
Simon McMenem?s gutsy squad defended resolutely against wave after wave of early Vietnamese attacks with the midfielders led by brothers James and Philip Younghusband holding their own alongside defenders Alexander Borromeo and Robert Gier . Goalkeeper Neil Etheridge was a tower of strength between the posts although a momentary lapse of concentration in the first half saw the Fulham goalkeeper gather the ball outside the penalty area. It almost cost the Filipinos dearly as Nguyen Minh Phuong?s free kick curled inches wide of the upright.
Chris Greatwich who scored an injury time goal to pull off a 1-1 draw against Singapore once again scored, this time with seven minutes left in the first half. Greatwich latched on to a fine cross by Anton del Rosario and headed a perfectly angled shot into the right hand corner of the net, beyond the reach of Vietnamese keeper Duong Hong Son who was caught flat-footed.
The Vietnamese became increasingly desperate as the second half opened even as the Filipinos occasionally broke into the Vietnamese half as the home side committed men forward to try and salvage a goal. On one such break with eleven minutes to the final whistle former Chelsea substitute Phil Younghusband raced forward on the break, stepped inside the defense and curled a low shot past goalkeeper Hong Son to cap an amazing performance by the Philippines who had to squeeze through a qualifier to make it to the main draw.
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