Vietnam's forward Nguyen Van Toan (red) in the match against the Philippines at Rizal Memorial Stadium. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam beat the Philippines 2-0 in their opening match of the World Cup 2026 qualifiers at Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila, the Philippines on November 16.
Although Vietnam had quite a rough start in the first half, 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 they did not have the smoothness in attack or the ability to break through.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese player Dinh Bac in the very last minute of the game raised the score to 2-0 with a shot into the left corner.
The Vietnamese national team will have the second match against Iraq at Hanoi-based My Dinh Stadium on November 21./.
