Asian football expert: ‘Justice is served, Vietnam deserves to win’

No one deserves to win the championship more than Vietnam

Like the first leg of the final at Viet Tri Stadium (2.1), the Vietnamese team continued to cede control of the ball to Thailand. According to the specialized page Optacoach Kim Sang-sik’s team only held the ball 31% – a rate even lower than the previous match. However, the result remained unchanged when the Vietnamese team excellently defeated Thailand 3-2, thereby winning the AFF Cup 2024 with a total score of 5-3 after 2 matches.

Witnessing the performance of the Vietnamese team, journalist Gabriel Tan expressed in an article on ESPN Asia: “The AFF Cup final second leg was tense until the last minutes. Many people even expect the drama to last to extra time and a penalty shootout. However, the Vietnamese team did not let all that happen. In the breathtaking developments at Rajamangala Stadium, the Vietnamese team’s bravery appeared at the right time, helping them defeat Thailand right in Bangkok during the official match time to win the regional championship for the third time in their history. history”.

Journalist Gabriel Tan continued to emphasize: “To understand the importance of this victory, I must recall that Thailand had previously only lost one match at home in the entire history of the tournament. That was the first leg of the AFF Cup 2008 final. More coincidentally, the Vietnamese team was the team that defeated Thailand. At the same time, in the same year, the Vietnamese team lifted the AFF Cup championship trophy for the first time. And after 16 years, they did the same thing. Vietnam proves that no one in the AFF Cup 2024 deserves to win the championship more than them.”

“Justice has been served”

According to Gabriel Tan, in theory the Vietnamese team is the best candidate for the 2024 AFF Cup championship because it has the strongest squad. However, to achieve ultimate success, coach Kim Sang-sik and his team had to go through many difficult moments, especially when looking at what happened on the Rajamangala field.

Journalist Gabriel Tan described the match: “The Vietnamese team opened the scoring, Thailand responded with an equalizer, but the highlight in the first half must be the moment of Xuan Son’s horrifying injury. With coach Kim’s squad Sang-sik, losing Xuan Son is no different than a disaster occurring. It didn’t stop there, in the 64th minute, controversy broke out when the “War Elephants” did not return control of the ball from a throw-in, scoring a goal. increased the score to 2-1 thanks to Supachok. The Vietnamese team was angry and even had a VAR check to evaluate.

However, just 10 minutes later, it seemed that justice had been served to the Vietnamese team. Weerathep Pomphan received a second yellow card for fouling Vu Van Thanh and then Pansa scored an own goal. At the end of the match, Thailand created a lot of pressure but Vietnam still stood firm. After overcoming many challenges, Hai Long kicked a shot from the middle of the field, the ball rolled slowly into the empty net and then there was a moment of explosive celebration. Two goals in the last minutes of the second leg final on Thailand’s field is a beautiful and fair ending for coach Kim Sang-sik and his team’s journey at the AFF Cup 2024.”