The Vietnamese girls have grabbed the first ticket to advance to the semifinal round of the AFF Women's Football Championship 2011 with their 4-0 victory against hosts Laos yesterday.
The hosts had their defense weakened with the absence of No.1 goalie Hongthong Choulapanh due to her red card in their 11-0 win over Indonesia in the opening match.
With this, it only took Vietnamese striker Huynh Nhu 73 seconds to score the opening goal of the match and her fourth goal of the tournament.
Striker Nguyen Thi Hoa, who constantly upset Laotian goalkeeper Bounyong Akhavong, sealed a hattrick at the 8th, 29th and 33rd minutes to take Vietnam to a 4-0 lead just before the end of the first half. It is also her second hat trick of the tournament.
Hoa now tops the scoring list with 7 goals. She scored four goals in the opening game with Singapore two days ago.
In the second half, the goalposts and crossbar saved the hosts from conceding at least two goals.
With this second consecutive victory, coach Chow Yun Fat and his women become the first team in group A to advance to the semifinals, and they are likely to top the group since they will face the not-so-dangerous rival Indonesia in the last game of the stage round on Thursday.
After beating Singapore 3-1 yesterday, Indonesia will compete with hosts Laos for the other ticket to advance as they both earn three points after two games.