U22 Vietnam comes from behind to win SEA Games: The 'madness' of the round ball

For the second time ever, Vietnamese football at the national team level has "brought down" the Rajamangala fortress against host Thailand in official competitions.

Before 2008, as well as for over 25 years before that, during the "golden generation" era of Vietnamese football, we were frequently plagued by the fear of losing 0-3 whenever we met Thailand in regional tournaments. It seemed as if those sad memories were about to return to our football, but they did not!

Indeed, watching the first half of the men's football final at SEA Games 33, Coach Kin Sang Sik's team really had no way out against host Thailand. With just two "strikes," they scored two goals. Those were the results of high-level organized attacks, transitions, and finishing.

Thailand truly controlled the game with a very clear tactical approach. They blocked all attacking routes of their opponents, which is why throughout the 45 minutes of the first half, the U22 Vietnam forwards barely managed to get close to the Thai goal.

When the match seemed dull and no one expected a different scenario, right at the start of the second half, during the first attacking move, Đình Bắc made a difference. His cunning dribble forced the U22 Thailand goalkeeper to commit a foul. From the penalty spot, the striker wearing number 7 made no mistake in breaking the host’s net.

Riding the momentum, we unexpectedly scored a second goal, leveling the match after a corner kick by Văn Thuận. Watching that play closely, defender Lý Đức seemed to have fouled a U22 Thailand defender before the ball went into the net. Luckily, the referee did not whistle, and the goal stood. It even took a lot of luck for U22 Thailand not to concede a third goal after Hiểu Minh’s header in the 73rd minute.