Vietnam suffered an "8-1 hammering" at the hands of Man City last week but "the sponsor of the glamour fixture suffered far bigger losses," according to Patrick Johnston of REUTERS. SHB Bank Chair Do Quang Hien said that he spent "about 40 billion Vietnam dong" ($1.8M) bringing the four-time English champions to Southeast Asia "with much more" going on security, medical and organization of the game in Hanoi. Hien: "Man City mentioned strict conditions in the contract, especially 'force majeure,' which said that the match would be cancelled if any of their footballers were injured or sick." Despite the losses, Hien "declared himself happy with the near sell-out fixture and believed it would help Vietnam" in its World Cup qualifying bid. Man City put on a show with new £49M ($76.5M) signing Raheem Sterling scoring twice and first teamers Aleksandar Kolarov and David Silva "also getting on the scoresheet." Hien said, "I was aware of a loss but this was a good chance to train our footballers to build up a professional football club that can earn revenue and support themselves" (REUTERS, 8/5).
