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Vietnam national football team
Pre-season Friendlies
Jul 17, 2013 at 1pm UK
 
Arsenal logo

1-7

Manh Dung (77')
FT(HT: 0-3)
Giroud (5', 43', 45'), Oxlade-Chamberlain (46'), Akpom (56', 58'), Miquel (75')

Live Commentary: Vietnam 1-7 Arsenal - as it happened

Live text commentary as Arsenal took on Vietnam in their pre-season tour of Asia and won 7-1.
2

Arsenal followed up their 7-0 win over an Indonesian XI with a 7-1 win over the Vietnam national team on Wednesday afternoon.

In the first half three goals from Olivier Giroud put Arsenal well on their way with a further four, including two from 17-year-old Chuba Akpom completed their scoring.

Vietnam scored a late consolation through Tran Manh Dung but it was the Gunners who continued their pre-season form with their second tour win.

Read how the action unfolded with our live text commentary below.


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Hello everyone and thanks for joining me for Arsenal's second pre-season game on their Asian tour. Today they're in wonderful Vietnam to take on the national team in the capital Hanoi.

Last time out, on Sunday, Arsenal were in Jakarta and thrashed an Indonesian XI 7-0. Their side involved a good blend of experience and youth and there were goals for Chuba Akpom, Kristoffer Olsson and Thomas Eisfeld.

While the teams have yet to be announced, we can be sure that we will see more from the young Gunners today. Arsene Wenger was impressed with his young charges against Indonesia.

He said: "Everybody came through well and it was interesting to see some young players, who have practised with us.

"They all did well. Gnabry is a bit older but Olsson, Gedion, Eisfeld, they did very well when they came on. Chuba Akpom did well, he looked sharp up front."


Serge Gnabry has been on the verge of the Arsenal team and made the bench on several occasions last season. He made his league debut against Norwich City and became the club's third-youngest player in doing so. He is a member of the first-team squad this season and looks set to have a bright future.

Thomas Eisfeld, who scored against Indonesia, has yet to play in the league but has made a first-team appearance. He played in the League Cup against Reading and is an incredibly highly-rated prospect. He suffered a bad injury early in his youth career but Arsenal have taken a punt on the 20-year-old as they paid £500,000 for him in January.

Another of the Gunners' scorers on Sunday was Kristoffer Olsson and he was naturally delighted with his goal.



"I'm delighted with the win and the run out, and I scored as well so I'm very happy," he told the club's official website. "It's always good to score and great for your confidence as well so I'm very happy."

I can't quite believe that I'm watching players come into Premier League sides who were born in the mid-90s, but Olsson is just another technically gifted talent in the Arsenal youth ranks. He is just the sort of player Wenger looks for; a neat passer comfortable with the ball at his feet. If his performances in last year's NextGen are anything to go by, we should expect big things from the Swede.

Obviously it will be tough to look beyond Arsenal for this one, but I'm sure that they will want a greater challenge than the Indonesia XI posed. Next up for them in the tour is Nagoya Grampus - Wenger's old side - and a final game in Japan against Urawa Red Diamonds.

As well as playing football matches, of course, Arsenal are winning a lot of fans on their tour. It will be hard for anyone to top the now famous 'running man'. If you haven't seen it yet, take a look at the video of the fan who ran alongside the team bus for 15 minutes and got the chance to meet his heroes. It's really good stuff.

It has not been a great day for the Gunners so far in terms of transfer speculation. Napoli have entered the race for target Gonzalo Higuain and there have been rumours that Santi Cazorla is wanted by Atletico Madrid. However, this has been denied by the club. The Spaniard, along with Nacho Monreal, is still to join up with the squad.

If you fancy a flutter on this one, you'll have to back Arsenal with a fair whack of money to make anything. 1/8 is the best you can find (and quite generous, too), with Vietnam way back at 20s in some places. Needless to say, the hosts aren't being given much chance.

So we're just over five minutes away from kickoff, I suppose I should make a prediction. It's always hard with friendlies and I don't expect it to be quite as comfortable as Sunday, but it should be an easy win. Let's go for 5-0, shall we?

TEAM NEWS: We finally have news from Arsenal with today's lineup. Hold on to your hats...

ARSENAL XI: Szczesny; Jenkinson, Sagna, Koscielny, Gibbs; Arteta, Rosicky, Gnabry; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Podolski; Giroud

So it's a surprisingly strong team for a pre-season game. I might have to adjust my prediction! It's just Gnabry from last year's youth squad who starts and aside from Bacary Sagna at centre-back and a starting spot for Tomas Rosicky Arsenal are at nearly full-strength.

Arsenal's bench:

Fabianski, Martinez, Miquel, Mertesacker, Aneke, Ramsey, Walcott, Akpom, Wilshere, Zelalem, Ryo, Eisfeld, Olsson


The players are a little late making their way out, but they're coming now. Vietnam in red and Arsenal yellow.

The stadium is utterly packed - the sort of scenes you just don't see in pre-season in England. There are 40,000 here and, despite being a lot of Vietnamese, most want to see the stars of Arsenal play.

It was the running man who led out the Arsenal team, by the way. He's been propelled to fame in the last few days. There are pleasantries still going on, with the kickoff put back to 1.15pm.

Here we go then! Vietnam kick us off.

Early bit of defending required by Kieran Gibbs on the left, but he does deal with it well. Vietnam are seeing a fair bit of the ball hear early on.

GOAL! Vietnam 0-1 Arsenal (Olivier Giroud)

Well, Vietnam's early pressure comes to nothing. Risicky flicks the ball over the top for Giroud, who slams it low and hard, off the goalkeeper and the post and in. It was a very nice finish coming across the ball from an angle.

Vietnam have not been disheartened and they come again down the left, but Sagna is across to cut the ball out and start a counter attack. However, Giroud cannot get to a Rosicky through ball and the chance goes.

Minh drives down the left with the ball and attempts a pass infield, but gets it all wrong and the ball eventually goes out for an Arsenal throw. At the other end Gnabry combines with Oxlade-Chamberlain and the latter drives a shot straight at the goalkeeper.

There's very little pressure on Arsenal since the early spell of passing football from Vietnam. The Gunners are being given as much time on the ball as they want, but they aren't at their best yet that's for sure.

Arteta gives it away but a combination of Gibbs and Oxlade win it back. Arsenal break through Giroud but he's given the ball away far too easily trying to take on his man. There's not a great deal of flow to this one, as Vietnam in turn give it away.

CHANCE! That should probably be 2-0. Gnabry twists and turns on the right side of the box and clips it in to Podolski. The German gets his head on it but cannot keep it down and the ball flies over the bar.

Better from Giroud, who gets to the ball first and looks to take on Thanh, but the defender gets across well to concede the throw. In the end Arsenal go back to Szczesny.

Tan Tai tries a ball through the middle from his position in advanced midfield, but Koscielny is across well to cut it out. He read that well and it could have been a dangerous chance.

The hosts are seeing more of the ball at the moment. Pham plays it to his right but when the cross comes in it lands harmlessly from an Arsenal point of view. They come again, though, and Vinh takes a shot, but puts it wide.

I'm not sure what Podolski is trying there. He looks to be through on goal, but decides to cut inside a couple of challenges before laying across to - presumably - Giroud, who was not there. As such, the ball ends up with a red shirt. At the other end Koscielny gives away a free kick right on the corner of the box.

Initially the Vietnamese crowd were cheering on Arsenal's every move. However, after seeing their side manage some possession and, dare I say it, threatening football, they're rooting for an equaliser. One thing's certain: this game could improve.

Arsenal still have created pretty much just the two chances so far, one of which Giroud scored. The Frenchman gets the ball again but he had drifted some way offside before coming back to collect. There was no fooling the linesman, though.

Really poor control from Giroud, who slows down an Arsenal move and then loses the ball. From that chance Vietnam attack and Phurong goes for goal from outside the box but there was never a threat to Szczesny's goal.

Arteta gets a sight at goal from a 25-yard free kick. He gets it over the wall but it doesn't come back down and curls harmlessly over the bar. He's definitely had better attempts from that range.

Perhaps Giroud will be able to do something about this long ball aimed at him by Arteta? No. In fairness it was a bit too high for him to reasonably expect to bring it down.

POST! First real threat from Podolski down the left, as he arrows a shot from the angle on to the base of the far post. On the follow-up, Oxlade's effort is saved by Son.

Great turn on the edge of the box from Nguyen, but he swipes an effort wide from a tough angle.

GOAL! Vietnam 0-2 Arsenal (Olivier Giroud)

Well I've moaned about Giroud for his link-up play, but that is a superb finish. He drops off instead of attacking a ball from Jenkinson over the top and, running backwards on to the loose ball, plants a curling effort into the top corner. Fantastic.

GOAL! Vietnam 0-3 Arsenal (Olivier Giroud)

HALF-TIME: Vietnam 0-3 Arsenal

After Vietnam's best chance of the half with Nguyen sliding at the far post but turning it over, Arsenal counter and Giroud wraps up his hat-trick. He's played through along the ground and beats Son to the ball to dink it over him first time. Another good finish and Giroud now has five in two games.

Well, Arsenal were far from their best for much of that half but it just goes to show the gulf in class. Giroud proved that many times all strikers need to do is finish their chances, and he has put on a clinic in that respect. It's a little harsh on Vietnam, who have tried, but the late goals have certainly put some gloss on the half.

I would expect Wenger to bring on a number of his young players on during this half. From what I've seen of Vietnam so far they are looking to be a better side than the Indonesia XI - which means that playing time for the youngsters would give them that little bit more experience.

The players will be back out for the second 45 shortly. As a reminder, Chelsea are also in action today against Singha All Star XI. You can follow that one here.

There are a stream of Vietnam changes. About six in total - I don't think I can name them all. In fact it's eight! Most of the team.

For Arsenal, Theo Walcott is on as is Aaron Ramsey.

GOAL! Vietnam 0-4 Arsenal (Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain)

That's a really nice finish from the Ox. The ball is rolled across to him on the edge of the box and he clips a side-footed finish into the top corner past the new goalkeeper Ngoc.

Also on for Arsenal are Ignasi Miquel and Akpom, with the latter breaking into the box on the left but firing his shot too close to Mgoc.

There's Lukasz Fabianski instead of Szczesny too and I can see Chukwuemeka Aneke in the middle. Ryo Miyaichi - another sub - almost gets in down the left but he's stopped by a good late tackle.

Nguyen Hung is on now - so just the nine changes so far. These subs have really stopped the flow of the game - if there was much from the first half, that is.

GOAL! Vietnam 0-5 Arsenal (Akpom)

Good work from both Ramsey and Akpom there. The Welshman dinks it through for the striker, who cuts inside a defender on to his right foot and slots it into the bottom corner. Calm.

GOAL! Vietnam 0-6 Arsenal (Akpom)

A real poacher's goal this time from Akpom. The credit goes to Oxlade, who broke the offside trap from a free kick and laid the ball across on a plate to the young striker. This will surely be more than seven now?

CHANCE! That should be the seventh. The Vietnam defence doesn't exist any more and Walcott finds himself through, but cannot poke his effort past Ngoc who saves well.

Akpom is denied a hat-trick by a last-gasp header that deflects his effort over the bat. From the corner Mertesacker tests the goalkeeper with a header, before the Vietnamese eventually gather the ball following a goalmouth scrap.

Jack Wilshere comes on for Oxlade-Chamberlain for his first aciton on the tour. Ramsey gives away a corner from midfield, but it's wasted with a tight shot from an angle going over.

Vietnam with a nice spell of possession football in the middle, which gets the crowd lively. They manage to work it into the box but Mertesacker is strong to get across and concede the corner.

Good first bit of involvement from Wilshere, who picks the ball up deep and drives forward. Walcott gets the ball on the left of the box and looks for Akpom but it's gathered by the goalkeeper. More Arsenal subs - Martinez comes on for Szczesny, with Aneke, Eisfeld and Olsson also on.

CHANCE! Walcott should score again. He peels off the back and gets space to the right side of the box. The goalkeeper leaves his near post wide open but manages to palm it wide - golden chance.

GOAL! Vietnam 0-7 Arsenal (Miquel)

Miquel plays a delayed one-two with Eisfeld. The German cuts it back to him in the box and he gets it through a number of bodies and into the net. They've levelled their last result.

GOAL! Vietnam 1-7 Arsenal (Tran Manh Dung)

Well the crowd are roaring now and it's because the hosts have finally scored. Dung does not get the contact he means on the low cross, as he slips to see the ball loop into the net. He'll take it, though, and gets booked for his celebration.

They're suddenly motivated the hosts! Wilshere gives away a foul with a poor lunge and the hosts have a chance from a set piece.

From it Martinez is called into action from Vinh, who went for goal. It's a save he should be making, but it was hit hard and he did well to push it away from danger.

It's started to pour down with rain and the crowd are trying to find themselves some shelter. Sa has a chance on the bounce on the edge of the box but cannot keep it down.

MISS! Another poor finish from Walcott as the visibility continues to decrease. He has space in the box but goes for power and blasts it high and wide.

Hung comes on for Vinh, who has been one of Vietnam's better players. I'm sure there's very little the new man can do to stop Arsenal winning the first match an English side has played in Vietnam.

Another Vietnam chance goes begging. They have men over and Van Phong cuts on to his left but blazes over.

RED CARD! Vietnam's keeper Ngoc is off! He came out of his area, was beaten to the ball and won it with his hand. Phong, who just missed that chance, is going in goal - in his red shirt, and everything.

Walcott tamely puts the free kick wide. Phong has got a grey bib on now. It's amateur hour!

Great effort from Sa. He's quite a way outside the box but works Martinez, who tips over the bar. That'll be the last action I suspect.

FULL-TIME: Vietnam 1-7 Arsenal

So, 14 goals in two games for Arsenal. They couldn't quite better their result in Indonesia as Vietnam managed a goal. Another comfortable day at the office for the Gunners.

That's all from me, but please do stick around on site for all the latest news and reaction. Goodbye.

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Arsenal's Lukas Podolski in action against an Indonesian XI on July 14, 2013
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