The Vietnamese team arrived safely in Singapore, beautiful semi-final memories returned…

Leaving Hanoi at 9:35 a.m. on December 23, the Vietnamese team arrived in Singapore early this afternoon. The flight was safe, coach Kim Sang-sik and other members quickly went through immigration procedures and moved to the hotel arranged by the organizers.

On the same afternoon, the Vietnamese team will practice on the natural grass field and have a few other training sessions until the semi-final first leg match with host Singapore on December 26 (on artificial turf).

Beautiful semi-finals!

The only time the Vietnamese team faced Singapore in the semi-finals of an AFF Cup, before the 2024 AFF Cup, was 2008. That year, the Vietnamese team struggled to get through the group stage, and we were beaten. The price is lower than the defending champion (defending champion) Singapore before kickoff.

That year, the semi-final first leg took place at My Dinh Stadium. Although the Vietnamese team tried very hard, they could not penetrate Singapore’s goal. We were even conceded by the opponent right on our home field. However, fortunately for coach Calisto’s (Portuguese) team that year, the goal was not recognized, because the referee determined that the Singaporean player fouled the Vietnamese player when jumping to compete for the ball.

The semi-final second leg took place at the Singapore National Stadium, in front of 55,000 spectators (before being rebuilt, the Singapore National Stadium had a larger capacity than it does today). The Vietnamese team continues to face a lot of pressure. Then in the 74th minute of the second leg, striker Nguyen Quang Hai suddenly rushed forward, received the ball from his teammate, and scored against Singapore from close range. That was also the only goal in the two semi-finals. The Vietnamese team won the right to enter the final with a total score of 1-0.

Uplifted after defeating defending champion Singapore in the semi-finals, the Vietnamese team defeated former champion Thailand in the final. For the first time in history, the Vietnamese team was crowned at the AFF Cup.

The 2008 AFF Cup championship permanently helps Vietnamese football change its position in this tournament. If it weren’t for the 2008 coronation, it’s very possible that Vietnamese football would fall into the situation of Indonesian football today: desperately desiring the AFF Cup title, but always falling short, due to psychological pressure and lack of support. Confidence when having to watch opponents being crowned one after another, while I myself have never been crowned king.

16 years after defeating Singapore in the semi-finals, the Vietnamese team wants to win against Singapore again, in the semi-finals of this tournament. The coincidence is that in the Vietnamese team there is also another player named Nguyen Quang Hai. This is a famous player with the same name as the former player who scored the goal that eliminated Singapore in the 2008 AFF Cup semi-finals. Currently, Nguyen Quang Hai is also expected to score against Singapore in the coming days.

The next coincidental detail is that if they defeat Singapore in the semi-finals, there is a very high possibility that the Vietnamese team will reunite with Thailand in the final. That is the reason why Vietnamese football fans are dreaming of a beautiful scenario like the one 16 years ago: The Vietnamese team wins again the two most successful AFF Cup teams (Thailand, Singapore), to Once again ranked first in Southeast Asia.