Vietnam advances to AFC U-19 finals as group leaders

The team took a 3-1 advantage into halftime, before adding two more goals in the second half to replace Australia at the top of the group standings and secure a berth as group leaders at next year's finals in Myanmar.

Cong Phuong opened the scoring for Vietnam on nine minutes before his teammate Thanh Tung doubled the lead eight minutes later with a beautiful curler into the far corner of the Australian goal.

Striker Van Toan then made it 3-0 with a minute to play in the first half, before Petros Skapetis made a timely effort to pull a goal back for Australia in stoppage time.

Cong Phuong scored his personal double by finding Australia's net again 10 minutes after the restart, before Van Son rubbed salt in the Australians' wounds with a successful penalty kick on 70 minutes to settle the game at 5-1.

Vietnam delivered a stunning finish to their campaign at the Group F qualification round, winning all their group games against Taiwan (China) (6-1), Hong Kong (China) (5-1) and Australia (5-1), scoring a total of 16 goals and becoming the first team to qualify for the 2014 AFC U-19 finals, set to take place in Myanmar in October of next year.

(Source: Nhandannewspaperonline)