LookAtVietnam – Super sub Nguyen Quang Hai scored the winning goal in the 88th minute of the country’s friendly game against Greek champions Olympiacos at My Dinh National Stadium yesterday.

Hai netted the ball from Nigerian-born Dinh Hoang Max’s cross in the last minutes of the game, stunning substitute Slovakia’s goalkeeper Pavel Kovac.

The friendly game, attended by Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet, marked the first-ever appearance of Ukraine-born goal-keeper Dinh Hoang La and Dinh Hoang Max, who took Vietnamese citizenship, in the national team jersey.

The two newcomers did their best in the game yesterday, win Hoang La getting plenty of chances to prove his prowess in front of the net.

Olympiacos took their first chance when Kotantinos Mendrinos launched a 30m kick that hit the bar, threatening the keeper.

Vietnamese trio, skilful midfielder Pham Thanh Luong, Nguyen Viet Thang and Le Cong Vinh, worked well together, creating opportunities to get closer to wooden box.

But they failed to beat goalie Antonios Nikopolidis, who won the European Championship in 2004, in the first half.

After the break, striker Derbyshire had three chances to face Viet Nam’s keeper in the first minutes of me second half, but Ukrainian goalie Dinh Hoang La made perfect saves.

In the 83rd minute left winger Le Tan Tai broke through into penalty area to face Olympiacos’ keeper Kovac, but his shot bounced off the goalie. Max came in time to take a shot from rebound, but it wide out the bar.

In the 85th minute, striker Quang Hai made a break through to face Kovac but his shot just skimmed the post, missing a goal. But he did not miss his chance three minutes later when he trapped a cross from Max to turn the ball to the back of net.

The Greek champions also missed a clear opportunity when Derbyshire tapped his teammate’s cross at the goal mouth, but it went wide.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News