Singapore newspaper praises the 'brave hearts' of U23 Vietnam
Singapore's The New Paper, part of the SPH group, owns many newspapers, including the Straits Times, which praised the Vietnam U23 team as "brave hearts" in the U23 Asian Cup.
The sadness of Vietnamese audiences at the moment Uzbekistan scored the decisive goal to win 2-1 against the brave U23 Vietnam. Photo: Reuters.
"The brave hearts of Vietnam sank into the white snow in the final match on January 27 with Uzbekistan in the last minute of the second extra time".
The newspaper described the match as taking place - as everyone knows - on a snowy day in Changzhou, with highways closed and trains and flights cancelled.
The New Paper was indignant: "However, under such conditions, the organizers allowed the match to continue in Changzhou, Jiangsu province despite the winter weather conditions."
"The match in the white snow showed that the Vietnamese team - in red shirts - was at a disadvantage because their opponent, the Uzbekistan team, wore white shirts that allowed them to blend into the white snow."
Despite losing, the Vietnam U23 team will be warmly honored in their homeland when they return, the newspaper said.
Fox Sports Asia commented: The U23 Vietnam team has restored confidence to Southeast Asian teams. This is the valuable prize they brought back from China.
Although it did not really write a perfect ending for the fairy tale as Vietnamese people dreamed, John Duerden believes that Vietnam has received the real reward at the 2018 U23 Asia.
