Mirdjalal Kasimov: We played well

The Bukhara striker broke the deadlock for the visitors at the My Dinh Stadium when he capitalised on a defensive error five minutes before half-time.
Igor Sergeev and substitute Sardor Rashidov then struck after the interval to secure the victory for the 2011 Asian Cup semi-finalists which kept them in second place in Group E with seven points.

“We played well for the whole game, especially our strikers and we made use of our chances to score,” said a delighted Uzbekistan coach Mirdjalal Kasimov.
“Vietnam played better here than in our last game in Uzbekistan because of the good support of their fans. They were good but we were better and we deserved to win the game.”

The loss all but ended Vietnam’s slender hopes of qualifying for Australia but coach Nguyen Van Sy promised that his side would not be throwing in the towel in their final two qualifiers.

“This was a very difficult game for us which I knew from the beginning,” he said. “We started quite well but the first goal badly affected the mentality of our players.

“I'm sad because our players could not keep their concentration until the end of the game, so we have to accept a really bad result. But I will tell them to continue to play their best in the last two games because these are not friendly games.”