Vietnamese striker Le Cong Vinh staged a shining performance today after he completed his own three-goal salvo to lead his home team to a 6-0 win over Macau on Thong Nhat Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City.
He headed home two opening goals in the 19th and 35th minutes before successfully converting a penalty kick to make it 3-0 in the first half of the game.
As soon as ten minutes from the beginning whistle, the hosts created a pressing style across the field, especially in the middle, to control the rhythm and push Macau back to defensive competition on their own area.
All the three goals were created from attacks along the flanks with the involvement of wing midfielder Thanh Luong.
After dribbling past a rival defender in the middle, Thanh Luong curved a flying pass into the box and set up Cong Vinh in a suitable position to jump up and nod home the opening goal.
The second goal was also made during an attack launched by Thanh Luong moving to the right wing.
And the third goal followed when Macau goalkeeper Chon Kit committed a mistake in the box after tackling center midfielder Trong Hoang just three minutes before the end of the first half. It helped Cong Vinh complete his hat-trick.
In the second half, Thanh Luong, substitute Ngoc Thanh and Van Quyet each fired home a goal to extend the result to 6-0.
Vietnam will encounter Macau in the second leg game on July 3. The winner will meet Qatar in the second of the four World Cup qualifying rounds.
The first qualifying round is held for the 16 lowest-ranked Asian teams battling it out to select eight winners who will join another 22 teams for the second round on July 23 and 28.
Australia, Japan, both Koreas and Bahrain -- the continent's top five teams in South Africa 2010 qualifying -- will automatically enter the third round, the draw of which will be held on July 31.
Four Asian teams will qualify directly for the Brazil edition while one will have to contest a two-leg playoff.
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Cong Vinh expresses his happiness after scoring the first goal for Vietnam.
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Midfielder Tai Em dribbles the ball past two Macau players.
Vietnam hopes the Australian House of Representatives under the leadership of Speaker Anna Burke will pave the way for Australian businesses to pour investment into Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City in particular.
A conference on cooperation in investment, trade and tourism promotion between the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum and Thailand’s four northeast provinces was held in Kon Tum city on May 24.
