Vietnam vs. Manchester City: Score and Reaction from 2015 Pre-Season Friendly

Raheem Sterling continued his sparkling pre-season form on Monday, as the forward inspired Manchester City to a comprehensive 8-1 win over Vietnam at the My Dinh Stadium, Hanoi.

Aleksandar Kolarov, David Silva and Sterling all bagged braces in the lopsided friendly encounter, before Marcos Lopes and Jose Pozo got in on the act from the bench; Nguyen Van Quyet added a consolation for the hosts in stoppage time.

After being well beaten by Real Madrid in their previous pre-season match, manager Manuel Pellegrini would have been desperate for a response from his players. And spurred on by an incredible atmosphere, the City players tore into their less illustrious opponents with panache.

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The first goal was a measure of the difference in quality between the two sides. As we can see courtesy of City’s official Twitter feed, Kolarov’s superb free-kick left the Vietnam goalkeeper standing:

In these kinds of pre-season matches it’s easy for the team in the ascendancy to take their foot off the gas. But inspired by Sterling’s scintillating bursts and astute movement, City were insatiable in their endeavour to carve out early opportunities.

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And it was the England man who doubled his side’s advantage with a wonderful first-time finish from the edge of the penalty area. Once again, the goalkeeper was left rooted due to the quality of the strike, per Squawka Football:

Within a minute of doubling their advantage, it was 3-0. Silva was the man who capitalised on some disappointing defending from the hosts with a scrappy finish, one not entirely befitting of his serene first half performance. But the Spaniard and City were back at their slick best on the half-hour mark.

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The Premier League side scythed through Vietnam with some incisive interchanges, with Sterling applying the finishing touches to an excellent move. With the score now 4-0, even Bleacher Report’s Manchester City correspondent Rob Pollard had some sympathy for the home side, who were well out of their depth:

"

Hope City take their foot off the gas here because I'm feeling sorry for Vietnam already.

— Rob (@RobPollard_) July 27, 2015"

Vietnam were able to keep City out in the final 15 minutes of the half, but it was always going to be damage limitation in the second period. Especially as the Premier League side only needed five minutes to add to their tally, with Kolarov notching his brace from the penalty spot after Sterling was felled.

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The England international continued to torment the Vietnam players, and in the 64th minute, he and Silva delighted the crowd once again. Some creative work from Sterling played the Spaniard in, before he nonchalantly lifted the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper to make the score 6-0 in favour of Pellegrini's men.

That goal was the trigger for a flurry of changes for City, and one man who made an impression within minutes of coming off the bench was Lopes. The Portuguese starlet has been on the fringes of the first team at the Etihad Stadium for a while now, but he did his chances no harm with a powerful finish to bag the seventh goal of the day.

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Encouragingly for City, he wasn't the only youngster turning in a promising performance, as noted by TheMCFCView:

However, such was the gulf in ability between the two sides, any player in sky blue looked capable of getting in on the action as the match meandered to a close. Pozo grasped his chance to shine with the clock ticking down, arrowing in a delicate finish to make it 8-0 with 12 minutes remaining.

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Then, in stoppage time, the home crowd finally had a goal to cheer for their side, as Quyet pounced on some tired City defending, firing in an accomplished finish past Willy Caballero just seconds before the final whistle.

Afterwards, Sterling spoke with the club's official website and had some words of encouragement for the Vietnam side:

"

My aim is just to take things slowly, do my best playing for Manchester City Football Club and hopefully that will bring me success.

The most impressive thing [about Vietnam] was the people here – they’re really welcoming, they love football and to be welcomed in the way we were was really heart-warming. I’m really happy to be here and hope I can come back again soon.

I thought they put up a good match for us and they fought really hard, but we got a few goals early on and then the goals kept on coming. I thought they were a really good side and they had some good players up front.

As a team, as a collective they were really good, they passed the ball really well and had some good chances and scored the goal.

"

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Although the chasm in class between the vanquished Vietnamese side here and Madrid in Melbourne was massive, Pellegrini will be delighted to have seen his attacking players accrue some impetus with this display. It’s a swagger the Chilean will be hoping his squad can carry into the coming campaign, when a fast start will be imperative to their title chances.

Sterling has already showcased encouraging link-up play with the likes of Silva in the infancy of his City career. Granted, these games will not determine just how much of a success he’ll be in the iconic sky blue jersey, but after the bitter taste his transfer saga left, it’s encouraging to see this bright young talent is primed to take the Premier League by storm in City colours next season.