5 “highlights” of the first leg final between Malaysia and Vietnam

But this 12th clash had more memorable points, the rain that lasted for several hours still did not reduce the heat of the “fire pan” Bukit Jalil. Let us review the 5 “highlights” of this match.

1. Football festival.According to a reporter from Nghe An Newspaper working in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, the black market ticket prices in Malaysia are up to 120 Ringgit (about 700,000 VND) each. Meanwhile, the original price of each ticket is only 40 Ringgit (about 200,000 VND) for a private seat and 50 Ringgit (about 300,000 VND) for the covered area.

In addition, the Bukit Jalil Stadium Organizing Committee has organized many locations to broadcast giant LED screens live around the stadium to the confrontation with the Vietnamese team. Among them is Axiata Arena, a famous stadium in Malaysia with a capacity of about 15,000 fans present at this stadium. Thus, in addition to 90,000 spectators at Bukit Jalil Stadium, there will be many more cheering fans outside the stadium, creating a football festival in Malaysia.

Host Malaysia had to mobilize 1,200 police to ensure security and order for this match.

As coach Tan Cheng Hoe declared, Malaysia attacked, but they did not win all 3 points as desired. Photo: Internet

2. The effect of "witch" tips.To defeat the Vietnamese team, the Malaysian Football Federation - Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim personally invited "wizard" Rajagobal Krishnasamy to visit and give advice.

Malaysian media reported that coach Tan Cheng Hoe also invited "wizard" Rajagopal to help him successfully defeat Thailand in the semi-finals of the AFF Cup 2018. Coach Tan Cheng Hoe - formerly an assistant to "wizard" Rajagopal himself. Coach Rajagopal won twice against our team in the 2009 SEA Games and the 2010 AFF Cup.

Specifically, in Laos 9 years ago, U23 Malaysia defeated U23 Vietnam 1-0 to win the SEA Games gold medal even though in the group stage U23 Vietnam defeated U23 Malaysia 3-1.

A year later, Mr. Rajagobal continued to bring sadness to Vietnamese football at the AFF Cup 2010. After two semi-final matches, the Malaysian team defeated coach Henrique Calisto and his team with a total score of 2-0.

This time Malaysia turned the tables, equalizing 2-2 thanks to Mr. Rajagobal Krishnasamy.

3. Team highlights: Although they did not score, Van Duc and Quang Hai were the best players on the Vietnamese team. If Huy Hung's first goal, midfielder Van Duc calmly passed right-back Aznan and passed the ball inside, his first time on the field, then Duc Huy's second goal, the Nghe An player held the ball and waited for the second line to run up and score.

Meanwhile, Quang Hai was the author of 4 passes that could have resulted in goals for Duc Chinh, Tien Linh and Van Duc himself. If we had taken advantage of them, we would have had more than 2 goals away from home.

Goalkeeper Van Lam also had some confusion, but in the final minutes he played quite well to maintain a favorable 2-2 draw before the second leg.

Malaysia turned the tables and tied the score 2-2 thanks in large part to the "wizard" Rajagobal Krishnasamy. Photo from the internet.

4. Fixed situations:If in the 6 matches since the beginning of the season, Vietnam's defense only conceded 2 goals in the semi-finals, then in the first leg of the final alone, goalkeeper Van Lam had to pick the ball out of the net twice.

Unfortunately, the Vietnamese team lost two free kicks. One was because no one was marking the defender Saad, who headed the ball into the goal from close range, the other was because Safawi skillfully flicked the ball into the far corner of goalkeeper Van Lam's goal.

Surely Mr. Park will still have a lot of work to do with the defense of the Vietnamese team.

5. Card Rain:The referee had to hand out 8 yellow cards, 5 for the home team and 3 for the Vietnamese team (Dinh Trong, Van Hau, Duy Manh), showing that this was a fierce match between both teams. Fortunately, no one on the Vietnamese team received 2 yellow cards and would miss the return match at My Dinh Stadium.