Vietnam’s national U-23 football team qualified for the semifinals of the AFC U-23 Championship following a historic victory over Iraq on Saturday. Against the competition’s former champion, the Vietnamese team was considered the underdog but surprisingly took the lead with an early goal. Iraq equalized with a successful penalty kick later in the first half, and a goalless second half brought the two teams to extra time, which saw each team score twice. Vietnam finally emerged victorious in the penalty shootout after successfully converting all five shots, while one penalty shot from the Iraqi team was blocked by the Vietnamese goalkeeper. In the remaining quarterfinal matches, Qatar beat Palestine 3-2 while Uzbekistan achieved a 4-0 victory over the reigning champion Japan and South Korea eliminated Malaysia after a 2-1 win. Vietnam will play against Qatar while Uzbekistan will face South Korea in the semifinals next Tuesday. This is the first time a Southeast Asian team has reached the semifinals in the history of the competition. Earlier, Vietnam also became the first Southeast Asian team to achieve a group stage victory by defeating Australia, and one of the first teams from the region to reach the quarterfinals together with Malaysia. “We deserve the victory today,” Vietnam’s head coach Park Hang-seo said after the match, stressing that it was not just pure luck that the team has managed to go far in the competition. “I and the players would like to thank all the fans for supporting us throughout the journey,” Park… [Read full story]
Vietnamese striker Nguyen Van Toan (left) vies for a ball against Milad Salem of Afghanistan during their Asian Cup qualifier yesterday in Hanoi (Photo: VNA) However, the Afghanistan team did not let that happen, holding Vietnam to a goalless draw in the Group C of the 2019 Asian Cup qualification in Hanoi on November 14th. The visitors did an even better job than what their coach Otto Pfister had planned. “It is a pity that we could not grab three points from this match. My players did not play as well as they did in training,” Park said at the…... [read more]
Vietnamese striker Nguyen Van Toan (left) vies for a ball against Milad Salem of Afghanistan during their Asian Cup qualifier yesterday in Hanoi — VNS Photo The visitors did an even better job than what their coach Otto Pfister had planned.Afghanistan played a pressing game at high speed when it was half way into the first half. They had two chances by Haroon Fakhrudin and Milad Salem near the break but keeper Mạnh denied all.The second half was even worse for the hosts when they had to resist consecutive attempts from Afghanistan, especially in 10 last minutes. Meanwhile the host…... [read more]
Midfielder Nguyen Thi Muon scored a hat-trick to help Vietnam's national women's football team crush host-team Bahrain 8-0 in the Group C opener of the 2014 Asian Cup qualifiers on Wednesday. The Vietnamese women launched aggressive attacks from the beginning and their efforts resulted in a goal after 10 minutes. They led 5-0 by halftime. Vietnam continued to dominate, scoring three more goals in the second half to take an 8-0 win. The Vietnamese women, who lead the group, will clash Saturday with Kyrgyz, which lost 2-1 to Hong Kong in their opening match. In Group B, Thailand hammered Bangladesh 9-0 while…... [read more]
Football friendlies against Bahrain and Jamaica are on the cards in the month of June for Vietnam as it gets set to be one of four hosts for the 2007 Asian Cup in July. According to Vietnam's football governing body, the Vietnamese national team is scheduled to take the field for the matches June 24 and 30 in Hanoi. th while Bahrain stands 100th, four positions higher than Vietnam. Jamaica - led by technical director Bora Milutinovic, who was at the helm for five different national teams that qualified for the finals of five consecutive world cups from 1986 to…... [read more]
Vietnam lost 1-0 to Syria in their group D first leg game on Nov. 14, severely damaging their chances of qualifying for the final round of the Asian Cup. Playing on home turf and with the support of the fans behind them, Vietnam attacked from the opening whistle. The first chance fell to the hosts in the 14 th minute, Tan Tai overcame the challenges of the visitor's defenders to pass the ball to captain Minh Phuong who hit the post with only the keeper to beat. After a slow start, Syria started to get into the game but it…... [read more]
