5 biggest shocks in AFF Cup history
Thailand and Vietnam were both held to a draw or defeated by underdogs in the Southeast Asian championship.
Thailand 1-1 Myanmar, AFF Cup 2004:
Having won three of the first four titles, Thailand became the target for every remaining team. With that in mind, few expected Myanmar to hold their own against the defending champions, especially after Chaiman scored the opening goal.
However, when the "War Elephants" were about to win, a surprise happened in the 89th minute. Zaw Lin Tun equalized 1-1 and helped Myanmar earn a valuable point. Taking advantage of the excitement, Myanmar beat Malaysia to enter the semi-finals. Meanwhile, Thailand played poorly and was eliminated in the group stage.
Singapore stopped Thailand in AFF Cup 2007:
Singapore had a strange journey when defending the AFF Cup in 2007. On the way to the final, the Lion Island team won only one match and drew the remaining matches (eliminating Malaysia in the semi-finals by penalty shootout). In the two final matches, Singapore surprisingly revived when defeating Thailand with scores of 2-1 and 1-0.
Thailand 2-2 Laos, AFF Cup 2010:
From being considered the underdog, Laos caused a big surprise in the first match of the 2010 tournament. Konekham Inthammaving and Kanlaya Sysomvang helped Laos take the lead twice, forcing Thailand to chase and equalize thanks toSarayuth Chaikamdee.
The five-time champions' equalizer came only in stoppage time. After drawing with Laos, Thailand were eliminated from the group stage after drawing with Malaysia and losing to Indonesia.
Vietnam 0-2 Philippines, AFF Cup 2010:
After a 7-1 win over Myanmar in the first match, host Vietnam conceded two goals from Greatwich and Younghusband. This match went down in Philippine history as the "Hanoi Miracle", a step forward that helped the national team reach the semi-finals of the AFF Cup for the first time. After the unexpected defeat, Vietnam had to defeat Singapore 1-0 to take the top spot in the group.
AFF Cup 2014 semi-final second leg: Vietnam 2-4 Malaysia:
After winning the first leg 2-1 right on Malaysia's field, the Vietnamese team once again made the mistake of playing subjectively. Right in the first half, Malaysia took a 4-1 lead. It was not until almost the end of the match that Vietnam was able to score another goal thanks to Cong Vinh's second goal. Losing 4-5 on aggregate, Toshiya Miura's team had to stop and received a lot of criticism.
