Reggae Boyz lose third consecutive friendly

Jamaica lost their second successive match on their Asian tour yesterday when they went down 3-0 to Vietnam at the My Dinh Stadium in that country's capital, Hanoi.

On Thursday, Jamaica lost 2-1 to Indonesia, who are ranked 143rd in the world, one below Vietnam.

The 69th ranked Jamaicans conceded the first goal in the eighth minute through the effort of Le Cong Vinh.

In front of a sparsely populated stadium, the host doubled the lead when midfielder Tran Duc Duong blasted past Jamaican custodian Richard McCallum from long range in the 66th minute.

Nguyen Anh Duc added insult to injury when he broke through Jamaica's back line to net in the 90th minute.

Vietnam coach Alfred Riedl rotated several of his players during the friendly as they continued to prepare for the Asian Cup, which Vietnam co-hosts with Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, beginning on July 5.

The Reggae Boyz have now lost their third friendly in a row and continue to struggle mightily under new technical director Velibor 'Bora' Milutinovic.

Since taking over at the helm, Milutinovic, despite winning a Lunar Cup tournament, has not won a friendly with the team in their last six outings.

Malaysia next

The team will next play Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, before wrapping up their four-nation Asian tour on July 2 with a match against newly crowned west Asian champions, Iran, who beat Iraq in the championship final yesterday.

Jamaica, which is using the tour to prepare for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers which begin in the first quarter of next year, are playing without many of their most experienced players who play professionally in Europe, as Milutinovic seeks to identify talent for the qualifying campaign.