Soccer-Vietnam beat Philippines to reach AFF Cup semis

By Mai Nguyen HANOI, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Vietnam booked their place in the semi-finals of the AFF Suzuki Cup on Friday with a 3-1 win over the Philippines at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi. Needing just a draw to advance, the former champions grabbed all three points to leapfrog the Philippines at the top of the Group A standings. The Philippines, already assured of a spot in the semis, finished second with six points while Indonesia were eliminated despite beating Laos 5-1. "Three goals, every one of them was beautiful," said Vietnam coach Toshiya Miura. "It was important that we worked together and got that second goal. "I think we deserved to finish in first place because we dominated every game. Vietnam led 1-0 at the halftime break after Ngo Hoang Thinh scored in the ninth minute, then the hosts added two more goals shortly after the re-start. Midfielder Vu Minh Tuan made 2-0 in the 50th minute then Pham Thanh Luong blasted a long range goal to give the home side even more breathing space. The Philippines pulled one back on the hour when substitute Paul Mulders flicked home a cross from the right but the Azkals were unable to get the ball in the back of the net again. "It was a very good game from them, I wasn't surprised," said Philippines coach Thomas Dooley. "Vietnam deserved to win that game." Despite playing most of the match a man down after Supardi Nasir Bujang was sent off in the first half, Indonesia were untroubled in their 5-1 romp over Laos at Hang Day stadium. Evan Dimas and Rizki Ramdani gave Indonesia an early 2-0 before Laos cut the deficit in half when Khampheng Sayavutth converted from the penalty spot after Bujang was shown a straight red card for taking down Vilayout Sayyabounsou. Indonesia restored their two-goal advantage when Ramdani tapped in for his second shortly after the re-start then Zulham Malik Zamrun made it 4-1 eight minutes from the end. Laos' misery was compounded when their captain Ketsada Souksavanh scored an own goal right at the death. The final round of Group B matches take place in Singapore on Saturday with the hosts playing Malaysia and Thailand meeting Myanmar. Thailand are already through to the second round while Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar all have a chance to join them. (Editing by Julian Linden)