The win helped the team earn three points in the second elimination round.

Nguyen Thi Lan scored the opener in the seventh minute in a quick attack, and Nguyen Thi My Kim slid home from Pham Thi Thanh Phuong’s cross to double the score six minutes into the second half.

Nguyen Thi Thanh angled a low shot past Malaysian goalkeeper Noorhayanti Mohd Salleh to expand the lead to 3-0 with eight minutes to play.

With three points earned from the match, a win over Jordan tomorrow will send the home team through the semi-final. With the second loss in succession, Malaysia was eliminated.

In an earlier match, Thailand got past Jordan 3-2 to win six points after two wins and secure a berth in the semi-final.

Meanwhile, in the Phu Tho Gymnasium, Truong Quoc Tuan scored two goals to earn Viet Nam a crucial draw against Bahrain in the men futsal’s second group match and keep hope alive, albeit million to one, through the next round.

Other goals from Nguyen Trong Thien and Nguyen Hoang Giang helped host team to earn a 4-4 draw in its second group match in the Group C.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Darwish Isa Ebrahim scored a hat-trick for the West Asians at 5 minutes, 17 and 34, and one from Hani Abdulla Mansoor Ahmed after 25 minutes.

Mohamed Darwish Isa Ebrahim took advantage of Ngo Duy Khanh’s mistakes to steal the ball past the Vietnamese goalkeeper Nguyen Van Huy. He then converted a free kick to put Bahrain ahead 2 – 0 before the half-time intermission.

Abdulla Abbas Abdulla A Hassan brought the ball down the right wing and made a cross past Huy. Hani Abdulla Mansoor Ahmed had the simple task of tapping into the empty net to expand the lead to 3-0.

As home fans feared a second defeat, only eight seconds later Nguyen Trong Thien scored a goal, and Nguyen Hoang Giang another one, reducing the deficit to 3-2. Tuan scored the equaliser in the 33th minute.

Mohamed Darwish Isa Ali Ebrahim restored Bahrain’s lead one minute later before Tuan made sure to score his second goal with only 33 seconds remaining.

VietNamNet/VNS