The Police General Department under the Ministry of Public Securities has been keeping their eyes on the match fixing suspicion over the Vietnamese national football team at the 26th SEA Games last month in Indonesia, confirmed the agency chief Phan Van Vinh.

General Vinh told local media yesterday in Hanoi on the sidelines of a brief ceremony to kick off an operation against crimes before and during the lunar New Year (Tet) festival, which falls on January 23.

However, Vinh revealed the report of his security staff assigned to accompany the team in Indonesia that he had identified no sign of suspicion during their stay in the nation from November 1-22.

But the suspicion has been strengthened when Vietnam’s former star striker and now coach of a youth team, Tran Minh Chien, told Tuoi Tre, “As a professional, I can say I don’t believe they were not in good form. Some of the mistakes in positioning they made were unbelievable; even a player of a grassroots team wouldn’t have made them.”

Besides Trong Hoang, who missed a penalty kick in the 87th minute in the Laos game, Van Quyet has come under speculation for his behavior on the field after Van Thang extended the lead to 3-1 in the 90+3rd minute.

Instead of celebrating with his teammate, Quyet clasped his hands as if to pray.

It has been alleged that footballers under the influence of bookmakers wish to fix the match result at 2-1, so that they can make a double win--both pocketing three points for a win and pocketing money paid by bookmakers.

Tuoitre