Manchester City crushes Vietnam 8-1 in pre-season friendly

Manchester City had an easy 8-1 win over Vietnam national football team in a friendly match in Hanoi late Monday with three doubles by David Silva, Raheem Sterling and Aleksandar Kolarov and two more by Joze Pozo and Marco Lopes.

The two teams and more than 30,000 thousands at the My Dinh Stadium had a silent moment ahead of the match that took place on Vietnam’s National War Invalids and Martyrs Day (July 27).

Manchester City’s manager Manuel Pellegrini fielded strong players, including Manuel Garcia, Silva and the newly-signed Sterling in a US$76.5 million contract, right at the beginning of the match as he had told local media.

Manchester City took the lead in the 11th minute with a free kick by Kolarov from some 25m (82ft) away.

Sterling made it 2-0 after defeating Vietnam’s goalkeeper To Vinh Loi with a shot near the edge of the box in the 19th minute.

Just two minutes later, Silva scored the third goal for City after his header was blocked by To Vinh Loi but his later shot found the back of the net.

Sterling made it 4-0 in the first half after getting a returning pass from Kelechi Iheanacho and finished at a narrow corner.

In the second half, Manchester City fielded goalkeeper Willy Caballero to replace Joe Hart, while Vietnam’s coach Toshiya Miura also sent Phi Son, Thanh Hien and Tien Dung to the field.

Manchester continued to attack and got a penalty in the 50th minute after Stering was brought down by a Vietnam’s defender.

Defender Kolarov did not miss the chance to score the fifth goal.

In the 65th minute, Sterling had a good pass for Silva to finish his double in the match.

In the 72th minute, Vietnam sent goalkeeper to the field only to be defeated by Lopes who scored the 7th goal for Manchester City.

A weaker Vietnam’s defense was broken again by Manchester City’s fast attack that ended up with a close distance shot by Pozo.

Van Quyet scored the only goal for Vietnam in extra time after Van Quyet’s smart move blocked a Manchester City’s defender before looping the ball over goalkeeper Caballero.

Earlier, Manchester City stars on Sunday visited a children’s village in Hanoi, including David Silva, Jesus Navas, Fernando, Brandon Barker and Marcos Lopes.

Midfield pair Yaya Toure and Fabian Delph have already travelled back to Manchester for injuries during the Citizens previous pre-season clash in Melbourne.

Manchester City was the second Premier League club playing a friendly in Vietnam, after Arsenal in 2013. In its game against the Vietnam’s national football team on July 17, 2013, Arsenal won 7-1.

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