All Four Teams Fire Blanks
By Alex How

Bandar Seri Begawan - All five teams in Group A of the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy for Under-21 Asean Youth Football Championship 2005 still stand a chance to qualify for the semifinals.

This was assured when defending champion Indonesia was held to a scoreless draw by Vietnam and Thailand and had to settle for a point in the 0-0 draw with the Philippines yesterday.

Both Indonesia and Vietnam had equal chances to score early in the game but were denied by some fine goalkeeping from both sides.

Indonesia's skipper Bobby Satria beat the offside trap from a set-piece but his weak volley was easily fielded by the agile Vietnamese keeper Tran Thanh Trung.

Vietnam's striker Pham Thanh Nguyen also had a chance to put his team in front only to see his powerful Header flew over the bar.

After the interval, Indonesia looked more organised and pushed forward to look for goals.

Indonesia's Abdul Rosid's shot was first blocked by the brave Vietnamese keeper and later Atep joined in the attack from midfield but blasted the ball well wide over the post.

Indonesia got more frustrated as the minutes ticked away when Achmad Yaini saw his pinpoint header aimed at the far post being cleared by Vietnam's Lai Viet Huy at the nick of time.

But Vietnam looked more dangerous in the last five minutes when Pham Thanh Nguyen and partner Tran Duc Duong led the counter-attack.

Tran Duc Duong tried to catch Indonesia's keeper Roni Tri Prasnanto off the line with a 30-metre shot outside the penalty box but Roni got back quick enough to deny the Vietnamese.

Pham Thanh Nguyen blew another chance after his open header was blocked by Roni in the dying seconds of the game. After the match, Vietnam's coach Tran Doan Dung said:

"It was not a good game. We had a couple of chances but were unlucky not to turn it into goal."

He said Vietnam would go all out when they meet the Philippines on Thursday at the Berakas Sports Complex.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's coach Peter Withe was disappointed that they did not win the game yesterday.

However, he added that the morale and confidence of the players would not be affected by this draw. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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