Forward Pham Tuan Hai scored twice in Vietnam’s 2-0 win over Afghanistan in a friendly in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday night.

Considering the game as an opportunity to experiment, Vietnam's head coach Park Hang Seo chose to start with several new faces.

Although the new players put serious pressure on the visiting squad during the first half of play, they were forced to rely on three saves from goalkeeper Dang Van Lam.  

Vietnam’s first goal of the match came in the 31st minute when rookie Adriano Schmidt headed a corner from midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai to Tuan Hai, who easily tapped the ball into Afghanistan’s net with another header.

Que Ngoc Hai, Nguyen Cong Phuong, and Nguyen Hoang Duc all subbed in after half-time, but were ineffective, though keeper Van Lam stayed busy defending several on-target shots from Afghanistan.

Vietnam doubled their lead in the 88th minute with another goal by Tuan Hai.

After receiving the ball on the right flank, Hai sprinted past defender Masih Saighani, faked out goalkeeper Ovays Azizi, and sank the ball in the back of the net. 

Afghanistan were able to beat keeper Van Lam once in injury time when Maziar Kouhyar curled the ball into the far corner and Lam could not reach it. But the ball hit the post.

At the press conference following the friendly, Park said that he was satisfied with both his rookie players and those who had recovered from injury, though he did admit to several weaknesses in his team’s play.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan's head coach Anousg Dastgir praised Vietnam for their performance.

After Wednesday’s game, the Vietnamese national team will spend time resting and preparing for the 2022 AFF Cup, a biennial championship organized by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), scheduled for December this year to January 2023.

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