Vietnam opened the 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) games with a 6-0 thrashing of Brunei in Group B at the Bishan Stadium on Friday night.
Toshiya Miura's men in red went into the break with a one goal advantage courtesy of a 24th minute goal by Le Thanh Binh.
However, the floodgates opened in the second half with Tran Phi Son, Mac Hong Quan, Pham Duc Huy, Nguyen Cong Phuong and captain Pham Manh Hung all getting on the scoresheet for an emphatic victory. The goals came in the 47th, 75th, 78th, 81st and 89th minutes respectively.
Brunei had Chelsea trainee Jefri Faiq Bolkiah in their lineup. But inexperience at this level saw Stephen Ng's side fail to match their more illustrious opponents for most of the game.
"It was a story of two halves. I thought we fared well in the first half but the early goal in the second half unsettled us," Ng said after the game.
"We will continue to improve. We have four more games to do so. We will continue to prepare and the boys are looking forward to it."
Miura was pleased with Vietnam's goal rout but is focused on their next match against Malaysia on June 2.
"The first half was not so easy. But our players were working hard and they never stopped trying. I'm satisfied with the 6-0 result," said the Japanese tactician.
"The biggest positive is that the national (senior) players were rested for this game and some of the players coming back from injury got their chance to play. This will be helpful in the next few games."
Brunei will now switch their attention to Laos at the same venue on Sunday while Vietnam take on Malaysia on Tuesday.