Vietnam and RI move closer to Tiger Cup semis

Vietnam and RI move closer to Tiger Cup semis

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Vietnam and Indonesia effectively sealed
berths in the semifinals of the 1996 Tiger Cup with solid wins in
their group matches on Saturday.

Vietnam thwarted a threatened Myanmarese counterattack to win
4-1 while Indonesia beat Cambodia in fairly unsatisfactory style
3-0.

Vietnam top group A with seven points from three games, with
Indonesia, with two wins and a match in hand, lying second with
six point.

Vietnam scored in the sixth minute against Myanmar through
Nguyen Hui Dang and 10 minutes later had a second from league top
scorer Le Huynh Duc.

That was sufficient to rally the Myanmarese, whose striker Maung
Maung Htay almost snapped the goal new with a stunning 20-yard
volley in the 25th minute.

The Myanmarese promise never materialized and Vietnam took an
unbreakable strangehold on the game with goals from Tan Cong Minh
a minute after the restart and a second from Dang in the 62nd
minute.

The Myanmarese defeat could be put down to their unfamiliar
colors: the match was delayed 20 minutes after both teams walked
onto the pitch wearing the same strip.

The commentator's ultimate nightmare was only avoided when
Myanmar agreed to play the match in the strip of the local league
side whose ground were hosting the group ties.

Indonesia promised a goal avalanche against lowly Cambodia as
one of the few Southeast Asian sides who looked skillful enough
to shake the regional dominance of Thailand, unbeaten in group B.

It looked like delivering on that promise when by the 24th
minute it was already 2-0 up thanks to goals from Swiss-based
striker Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto in the 15th minute and Peri
Sandria in the 24th.

But the Indonesians flagged and only a 60th-minute penalty by
Eri Irianto after Kurniawan was brought down partly restored the
team's reputation as potential giant-killers.

Results

In Singapore:
Vietnam 4 Myanmar 1 (2-1)
Scorers: Vietnam - Dang (6, 62), Duc (16), Ming (46). Myanmar -
Htay (25); Attendance: 4000
Indonesia 3 Cambodia 0 (2-0)
Scorers: Kurniawan (15), Sandria (24), Irianto (60); Attendance:
4000

Group standings (Tabulated under played, won, drawn, lost,
points); (top two qualify for the semifinals of the Tiger Cup to
be played Sept. 13):
Vietnam 3 2 1 0 7
Indonesia 2 2 0 0 6
Myanmar 2 1 0 1 3
Laos 2 0 1 1 1
Cambodia 3 0 0 3 0