Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam defeated Group G’s favourites the United Arab Emirates (UAE) 1-0in their match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup’s second qualifying round at the Hanoi-basedMy Dinh National Stadium on November 14.

With this victory,Vietnam secured the top spot of Group G with 10 points after four matches.

The first half barely sawclear-cut chances and shots from both sides.

In the 39th minute,UAE’s player Khalifa Al Hammadi received a red card for tackling Vietnam’sforward Nguyen Tien Linh.

Vietnam were granted afree-kick, however, Nguyen Quang Hai failed to open the scoreboard.

At the stroke of half-time,Tien Linh made the home crowd go wild with a right-footed strike from the edgeof the box, which hit the crossbar and went in.

Entering the secondhalf, both teams sped up the game with more chances created.

Vietnam could havedoubled their lead if Quang Hai’s left-footer from the edge of the box in the 90thminute had more accuracy.

In another other match ofGroup G on the same day, Malaysia defeated Thailand 2-1 in their home ground.

Vietnam will face Thailand in Hanoi five days later. 

Earlier, Vietnamsecured two wins against Indonesia and Malaysia. In September, the squad had agoalless match with Thailand in a frenetic match in the opener Group G.

The 2022 FIFA WorldCup’s second qualifying round for Asia features 40 teams, divided into eightgroups of five teams, playing in the home-away format.

The eight group winnersand four best runners-up will qualify for the third and final round of the WorldCup qualifiers./.