Striker Tuyet Mai of Vietnam (R) controls the ball in front of Malaysia’s Malini (L) in Sunday’s group stage match

Vietnamese Women thrashed Malaysia 11-0 in the group stage of the Southeast Asia Women’s Football Championship in Ho Chi Minh City’s Thanh Long Stadium Sunday.

In the first half, the host team had five goals by Cham, Van Thi Thanh, and Mai (two scores) and Malaysia’s own goal.

Vietnam scored six more goals in the second half to close out a dominating performance.

Vietnam will take on Laos Thursday before clashing with Thailand in the semifinals two days later.

In another Group A match Sunday, Myanmar thumped Laos 7-0.

In last Saturday’s Group B matches, Thailand beat Singapore 6-0 and Australia defeated the Philippines 7-3.

The easy wins indicate the difference in skill levels between the teams in both groups, which had audiences tuning out the matches.

The lopsided results raise questions about whether to organize a series of qualifying matches to narrow down the good teams and reinvigorate tournament play.

Reported by Hoang Anh