Chhetri hattrick does the trick against Vietnam

India returned to winning ways in style with a 3-1 victory against Vietnam in an international friendly at the Balewadi sports complex in Pune. Striker Sunil Chhetri was the hero of the day with a hattrick to give Bob Houghton and his boys a much needed win in the run-up to the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.

It was an open game early on with both teams trying to get possession of the midfield and the game in general. But India looked sharper, especially on counter attacks with Abhishek Yadav and Sunil Chhetri trying to combine or set-up each other up with Abhishek more of the provider. Chhetri could have opened the score early on, but on two occasions he was wide or denied by the Vietnamese goalkeeper. But he made amends in the 25th minute when he beat the keeper to open the score for India. Vietnam looked a little shocked after falling behind as India did try to build on their lead, but it remained 1-0 until the breather.

After the break the match would see even more goals. Only four minutes into the second half Chhetri would double the lead from an Anthony Pereira cross. The lead looked confortable, but Vietnam weren't beaten yet. Surkumar Singh gifted them a penalty in the 62nd minute when he brought down Dao Van Phong in the box. The resultant penalty was taken by defender Vu Nhu Thanh and he reduced the deficit. It was 2-1 and suddenly there were some doubts if India would win this game, but it was Chhetri's day as the Delhi boy confirmed India's victory with his third goal of the night in the 72nd minute, another lovely strike.

After playing their second match in Pune, India have a one win, one loss record and they will play their third and final match on October 13 against Yemen. This time the opponent will be a west Asian side and hopefully India will continue to improve.

After the game coach Bob Houghton was a happy man as not only the result was positive, but the overall performance of the team was too. Though India won yesterday and had lost on Monday, Bob once more confirmed his opinion that Vietnam are a better side then Hongkong. The only difference being that it was a much better performance by India on the night.

But not only Bob Houghton will have been a happy man. Sunil Chhetri will be pleased to be back amongst the goals after not being able to do anything worthwhile in the matches earlier. I remember after the Namibia game that he told me, he isn't happy with his game and needs to improve a lot ahead of the Asian Cup. Hopefully he has refound his scoring boots and doesn't lose them until Doha.


Match Stats

India 3-1 Vietnam

Goals: 1-0,2-0,3-1 Sunil Chhetri (25',49',72'), 2-1 Vu Nhu Thanh (62', penalty)

India: 1-Subrata Pal; 17-Surkumar Singh, 19-Gouramangi Singh, 5-Anwar, 22-Syed Rahim Nabi; 28-Anthony Pereira, 30-Climax Lawrence (66' 7-N.P.Pradeep), 6-Baldeep Singh (66' 23-Steven Dias), 25-Clifford Miranda (66' 8-Renedy Singh); 9-Abhishek Yadav, 11-Sunil Chhetri
Substitutes: 16-Arindam Bhattacharya, 3-N.S. Manju, 18-Sushil Kumar Singh, 27-Mehrajuddin Wadoo

Vietnam: 1-Duong Hong Son, 4-Le Phuoc Tu, 7-Vu Nhu Thanh (74' 3-Nguyen Huy Hoang), 12-Nguyen Minh Phuong (79' 15-Tran Duy Quang), 13-Nguyen Quang Hai (46' 11-Nguyen Trong Hoang), 16-Huynh Quang Thanh, 22-Phan Van Tai Em, 17-Nguyen Vu Phong , 23-Le Van Truong (51' 39-Dao Van Phong), 34-Le Sy Manh (46' 8-Nguyen Viet Than), 19-Pham Thanh Luong (74' 38-Nguyen Xuan Thanh)
Substitutes: 27-Nguyen Manh Dung

Referee: Dinesh Nair (India)
Assistant Referees: Francisco Fernandes (India), Shaji Kurian (India)
Fourth Official: Arumugam Rowan (India)