4 Vietnamese players have the chance to score against Malaysia

In the first leg of the final that ended a few days ago, Malaysia had Safawi Rasid and Shahrul Saad who scored against Vietnam in the first leg of the final. On Vietnam's side, Huy Hung and Duc Huy did the same against Malaysia in the same first leg of the final.

In the group stage, Cong Phuong and Anh Duc of the Vietnamese team scored against Malaysia when the Vietnamese team beat the Malaysian team 2-0 at My Dinh Stadium.

But if we do not count the players who scored against both sides in this year's tournament, both the Vietnamese and Malaysian teams still have other players who have scored against each other. Because, Malaysia and Vietnam are two football teams with a lot of fate in regional tournaments.

Cong Phuong is a goal-scoring expert against Malaysia. Photo: Huyen Trang

Both official strikers of the Malaysian team participating in the AFF Cup 2018, Zaquan Adla and Idlan Talaha, have scored against representatives of Vietnamese football.

Current Malaysia team captain Zaquan Adha scored against the U23 Vietnam team in the group stage match of the 2007 SEA Games. That year, Zaquan was only 20 years old, and in that match, U23 Malaysia lost to U23 Vietnam 1-3.

Zaquan's current striker partner, Idlan Talaha, also scored against Vietnam at the 2014 AFF Cup, in the second leg of the semi-final where Malaysia surprisingly beat Vietnam 4-2 at My Dinh Stadium (Malaysia won 5-4 after 2 legs of the semi-final to reach the final).

Previously, at the 2009 SEA Games in Laos, Idlan Talaha was the one who passed the decisive ball that caused U23 Vietnam's central defender Mai Xuan Hop to score an own goal, ultimately losing 0-1 to Malaysia in the final match of the men's football event.

Zaquan (8) and Talaha (9) from Malaysia have both scored against Vietnamese football representatives.

But if we talk about the number of players who have scored against the opponent, even without counting this year's tournament, the Vietnamese team still has more players who have scored against Malaysia.

At the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore, when the U23 Vietnam team beat Malaysia 5-1, Cong Phuong (2 goals) and Van Toan were the ones who scored against the Malaysian team.

Also in 2015, Cong Phuong scored against U23 Malaysia in the qualifying round of the 2016 U23 Asian Cup, in a match that took place in Shah Alam, Malaysia (U23 Vietnam won 2-1).

In the first leg of the AFF Cup 2014 semi-final, Van Quyet was one of two players from the Vietnamese team to score against Malaysia, also at Shah Alam Stadium in Selangor (Malaysia), helping us win 2-1 in the first leg.

At the 2016 AFF Cup, it was Trong Hoang's turn to score the only goal against Malaysia in the 1-0 victory of the Vietnamese team in the group stage of that year's tournament.

Just like Zaquan and Talaha on the Malaysian side, Trong Hoang is also an official player for the Vietnamese team at this year's AFF Cup, the explosive right winger of the team under coach Park Hang Seo.

Cong Phuong and Van Toan are the “cards up Park’s sleeve”, the ones used to solve the deadlock for the Vietnamese team. Cong Phuong alone has scored 3 goals at this year’s AFF Cup, including 1 goal against Malaysia in the group stage of the 2018 AFF Cup.