End of tour celebration and travel home - 31 August

After the final game the touring party attending an end of tournament dinner.  The compulsory Kris Kringle ensured that there were many interesting items of clothing that had to be worn.

Say no more!

Everyone loves Kung Fu!

Where's Cori?

The morning after and the hotel staff were sad to see the travellers on their way.

Final game against Vietnam - 30 August

This was the game that we had been waiting for 10 days to acclimatise, national television coverage and a large crowd.  A quiet day lead to the team arriving early to work the local crowd.  Once again the Australian Team had no problems winning over the locals.

The pre game entertainment was a crowd pleaser.

Tung again a favourite with the locals.  Tung was in demand and a great ambassador for S.A. Pol.

A great game was played in excessive heat.  The local team getting ahead early through their pace taking and early 2-0 lead - although some great keeping by the local keeper was what kept us at bay.

A goal by Dale Ohlmus and we were charging.  Again several great saves by both keepers kept the crowd on the edge of their seats.  The locals took a 3-1 lead before an overdue penalty to the Aussies was converted by Michael Putson 3-2.

Captain courageous for the day led from the front and the team battled to the end.  The final score being 4-2 with the heat taking its toll.  The best game of the tournament with the locals agreeing they were lucky with the ball not bouncing for the Aussies.  

The Australian keeper - Rick Janssen - won the best goal keeper of the tournament (he was the busiest).  

An outstanding effort by Rick who has been a tower of strength for the VPSC for over 25 years.  

Congratulations Rick - well deserved.

The Australian Team winning the hearts of the crowd and respect of the other teams.

In total the team won $2,000 in prize money with the team and Rick agreeing to donate the money towards sponsoring the Vietnamese Football Team to come and tour Australian.

Media Interest leading up to last game

The local media showed great interest in the Australian Team and especially with the Australian player Tung Tran.

Recovery Day - 29 August

A recovery day was spent with team members recovering in the pool and Paul Morgon writing and mixing the team song - racing up the charts in Vietnam.

A group the took a scooter tour of the city - the only way to see the real Ho Chi Minh City.

Game 3 vs Thailand - 28 August

Game 3 saw the lads come up against Thailand.

Walking out the Aussie lads looked like they had started to get used to the sticky playing conditions and felt comfortable on the ball early in the game.

With Paul Morgan (Vic Pol) suspended, Mitch Henry (S.A Pol) stepped in upfront dropping Michael Putson (Vic Pol) in to the middle of the park.  This game also saw first starts for Frank Dumic (Vic Pol) and Tung Trang (S.A Pol).

Some early pressure saw the Thailand keeper making some excellent saves to keep them in the game and hold it at 0-0.

In to the second half and Thailand came out a different team.  A couple of lucky chances in the box saw the Aussie's 2-0 down mid way through the second half.  With 20 minutes to go, Australia changed their formation to a 3-4-3 and piled the pressure on Thailand.  Chances were created, but the Thai keeper made some outstanding saves.

Hitting Australia on the break Thailand scored a third with 5 minute to play finishing the game at 3-0.

Australia remain clear crowd favourites in Vietnam and continue their generosity kicking balls in to the crowd pre game.

Don't forget..... Thursday night 30/08/12.  

Vietnam vs Australia 8.30pm AEST kick off.  Live on Vietnamese TV.  

Log on to the website below to cheer on the boys.

www1.vtc.com.vn/live/10/VTV2.html

The Vietnamese are still to confirm which channel the game will be shown on, however it is likely to be one of the VTV or VTC channels.

Recovery day - 27 August

A day off from the tournament and a chance for the lads to get some well needed rest and prepare for their next game against Thailand.

Plenty of time to work on our lookalikes.....

Paul Morgan is Joey Barton

Dale Ohlmus is Theo Walcott

Andy Hughes is Pierluigi Collina

Tung Tran is Park Ji-Sung 

The lads are looking towards their game tomorrow against Thailand and then it's time to take on the hosts on Thursday.

Thursday's game is building to be a great finale to the tournament with it being broadcast live on Vietnamese TV.  For those interested in watching the boys take on Vietnam, it will be on HTV9 this Thursday with a local kick off time of 5.30PM, 8.30PM AEST.

Click on the following link to follow the boys or google 'HTV9 Live'.

http://www1.vtc.com.vn/live/8/HTV9.html

As the boys will all know too well, plans in Vietnam can change at the drop of a hat.  If the game does not appear on HTV9 it is possible that it will be on VTV2 or VTV6.  The same link will take you to these channels.

Treated like royalty.

The team are being treated like royalty.  Everywhere we are travelling we are accompanied by a proactive police escort who clear our path.  

We think that they may have us mistaken for celebrity football players so we are now running a team lookalike competition.

Dave Cori looks like Gary Neville

Any suggestions for Dale Ohlmus or Paul Morgan???

Game 2 vs Laos - 26 August

Game 2 started with a team talk at the hotel poolside by Manager, Darren Cooper (Vic Pol) in preparation to face tournament favourites Laos.  

The team were lead out by Dale Ohlmus (AFP) for the traditional national anthems and team photo.

 An early attack from Laos saw Australia go 1 down inside the first 5 minutes.

In the 38th minute a defence splitting pass from Dale Ohlmus (AFP) saw Dave Shannon (Vic Pol) clean through on goal.  An excellent burst of pace saw 'The Shannon' in the box one on one with the goal keeper.  Just about to fire another blank 'The Shannon' was pulled down by a last ditch tackle by the Laos defence resulting in a penalty to Australia.  The crowd were screaming for a red card, but left surprised when the Vietnamese referee produced a yellow to the fortunate defender.

Michael Putson (Vic Pol) stepped up for the Aussies pulling one back with some clinical finishing.

The teams came out strong in the second half, but the hot, humid conditions were clearly affecting the Australia team.  Laos took control of the game in the second half overcoming the battling Aussie lads.

Some positives for the Australians saw Matt Pearce (Vic Pol) coming off the bench for the last 10 minutes after 9 weeks on the sidelines with an ankle injury.  Tim Mckinney (Vic Pol) and Darren Cooper (Vic Pol) also coming off the bench to make their international debuts.

 The team returned to the hotel for dinner and to reflect on the days events.

Football cards available - 25 August

The Australian Team Football cards are now available.  All your favourite players are featured - order your limited edition set today.