Vietnam's forward Nguyen Van Toan (red) in the match against the Philippines at Rizal Memorial Stadium. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam beat thePhilippines 2-0 in their opening match of the World Cup 2026 qualifiers at RizalMemorial Stadium in Manila, the Philippines on November 16.
Although Vietnam had quite a rough start in the firsthalf, Vietnam's forward Nguyen Van Toan opened the score, in the 16th minute, just six minutes after the Philippines got their first shot on goal. A messy situation near the box confused Philippines defense and Van Toan took full advantage of it to score for Vietnam.
With the goal, Vietnam players took off a lot of pressure. Many one-touch plays were executed beautifully, but the finishers could not convert them into goals
Entering the second half, the Philippines sped up to find the equalizer, but theydid not have the smoothness in attack or the ability to break through.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese player Dinh Bac in thevery last minute of the game raised the score to 2-0 with a shot intothe left corner.
The Vietnamese national team will have the second match against Iraq at Hanoi-based My Dinh Stadium onNovember 21./.
