Ha Chau Phi (2) celebrating his opening goal. (Photo VFF) Coach Dinh The Nam's team of youngsters dominated the match andfound goals through Ha Chau Phi and Nguyen Duc Viet, as well as a brace fromNguyen Gian Tan.
Vietnam were down to 10 men in the last 10 minutes of the match,after keeper Ho Tung Han handled outside the box, but stayed strong and kept aclean sheet.
Facing a dismal Brunei that has conceded 14 goals in their lasttwo matches against Indonesia and Myanmar, Nam chose to rest key players KhuatVan Khang and Nguyen Van Truong and grant chances to reserves such as Tung Hanand Gian Tan.
It took only 12 minutes for Vietnam to open the scoreline when ThaiVan Thao's corner found Chau Phi at the far post. The right-back, whose nametranslates into English as "Africa", easily overpowered his opponentto tap in his first-ever goal for Vietnam U19s.
The Vietnamese then seemed to lose concentration and gave the ballaway easily to the Bruneians, with Hoang Anh Gia Lai's Nguyen Duc Viet mostlyat fault.
Brunei couldn't seem to capitalise and conceded a second goal inthe 33rd minute when Van Thao again crossed for Gian Tan, who got the ball overthe line and doubled Vietnam's lead.
Vietnam started the second half slowly in the first 10 minutes toconserve energy before increasing the pace from the 55th minute.
Văn Thao, with a man of the match performance, gave his thirdassist of the match and granted Gian Tan his brace in the 59th minute.
Only four minutes later, Duc Viet silenced his critics with awonderful long-range strike into the top corner after the ball rebounded offthe Bruneian defence.
Suffering from fatigue, Brunei gave up, and multiple chances cameto the men in red. A consolation goal for them seemed unimaginable, given thetotal pressure and possession that Vietnam had.
That is until Vietnam's keeper Tung Han handled the ball outsidethe box after a poor backpass from his teammate. The young keeper protested,but the referee was decisive and brandished Han with a straight red.
Brunei pushed forward and made Vietnam's 10 men work hard in thematch's final minutes. Vietnam also got chances on the counter, but no moregoals were scored.
With this result, Vietnam temporarily took the lead in Group Awith 7 points before Thailand and hosts Indonesia face off later on Wednesday.Brunei are eliminated and share the same fate as the Philippines who lost 3-1to Myanmar earlier.
Having only scored four against the bottom team, Coach Nam is at adisadvantage should it come to tiebreakers against the remaining teams in GroupA.
Vietnam have two days to rest before facing Myanmar in Jakarta July8, and a win will secure their place in the semifinals./.
VNA
