Thailand and Vietnam lived up to their top billing after both secured winning starts to their FIFA ASEAN Cup Division 1 Group B campaigns on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thailand faced little trouble as they defeated Pakistan 4-0 while Vietnam\u2019s tie was a more tense affair with the reigning ASEAN champions emerging 1-0 winners against the Philippines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It took Thailand a while to get going but they eventually broke the deadlock just after the half hour mark as a Jude Soonsup-Bell header was parried into the path of Teerasak Poeiphimai, who swept home from close range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soonsup-Bell then went from provider to finisher in the 41st minute as he met a Seksan Ratree cross to send Thailand into the break with a comfortable advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thailand lost Soonsup-Bell to injury early in the second period, with the player who came on in his place, Supachai Chaided, making an immediate impact as he teed up Teerasak for a shot that spun into the net in the 64th minute off the leg of Pakistan defender Haris Zeb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teerasak poked home a late fourth with six minutes of regulation time remaining to complete a commanding win for a Thailand side ahead of their headline showdown against Vietnam on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the Philippines having failed to defeat Vietnam for the past 12 years, they entered as clear underdogs in the pair\u2019s Group B opener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Randy Schneider came close to handing them a 23rd minute lead though, his long-range effort crashing off the bar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Barely two minutes later they were made to pay for that miss as Nguyen Dinh Bac strode forward to meet a Williams Minh Hoang cross and send Vietnam into the break ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Philippines were far from overawed and only a fine save from Le Giang Patrik prevented Jarvey Gayoso from pulling them level shortly after the restart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vietnam then suffered a blow as captain Nguyen Xuan Son was forced off with a hamstring injury just after the hour mark, before the Philippines thought they had struck a late leveller but after a VAR review, Kenji Nishioka\u2019s strike was chalked off as Vietnam hung on to collect maximum points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thailand and Vietnam lived up to their top billing after both secured winning starts to their FIFA ASEAN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[447,430],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asean","category-football"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t