Vietnam beat Kuwait 1-0 in a friendly in Kuwait on May 31 night, thanks to a goal from halfback Trong Hoang.

The 36 th-minute score affirmed Vietnam’s power as No 1 in the Southeast Asian region after their win in the ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup last year.

Although it was only a friendly, the Vietnam team rated the result highly.

“The match gave us the basis for the future for the national team, as well as the U-23 team at the coming 25 th SEA Games,” said their coach, Henrique Calisto.

Vietnam beat Greek champions Olympiakos 1-0 in an earlier international friendly games in Hanoi on May 15.

In the latest FIFA rankings, Kuwait ranks 118th and Vietnam, 136th .

Kuwait dominated the first quarter and created many dangerous situations, especially on the right but the visitors’ halfbacks gradually developed confidence, controlled the ball well and created space.

Hoang’s goal followed a teams effort featuring Le Phuoc Tu and Brazilian-born striker Huynh Kesley Alves.

Boosted by the goal and support from expat fans in Kuwait , the visitors played with more confidence and dominated their rivals and had three definite chances to score in the second half.

Kuwait also had their chances but were thwarted by the outstanding work of goalie Dinh Hoang La.

As qualifying for the 2011 Asian Cup begins, Vietnam will host Syria in Hanoi on November 14./.