SEA Games 30 Final: U22 Vietnam and 2009 memories

In the third match of Group B, U22 Vietnam successfully came back against the team led by coach Indra Sjafri. Although U22 Indonesia scored the opening goal due to a mistake by goalkeeper Bui Tien Dung, the players of U22 Vietnam still managed to close the match with a 2-1 victory, thanks to goals from Nguyen Thanh Chung and Nguyen Hoang Duc.

Now U22 Vietnam and U22 Indonesia have the opportunity to clash again, to prove who is the strongest team at this year's SEA Games. In many aspects, Coach Park Hang-seo and his team are rated higher than U22 Indonesia, in terms of the ability to win this rematch. However, the opportunity for the young team from the archipelago to win the gold medal at the 30th SEA Games is not small.

Group stage match between U22 Vietnam and U22 Indonesia. Photo: Archive

One of the factors against U22 Vietnam is the past. Since the day the Vietnam Sports Delegation re-integrated (SEA Games 1991), the representatives of Vietnamese men's football have reached the finals 5 times and all have had to accept defeat. The most regrettable was at the 2009 SEA Games held in Laos, U23 Vietnam missed the opportunity to win a gold medal in an extremely regrettable way.

That year, U23 Vietnam was in the same group with U23 Thailand, U23 Malaysia, U23 Cambodia and U23 East Timor. In the opening match, U23 Vietnam held U23 Thailand to a 1-1 draw, before defeating U23 East Timor, U23 Malaysia and U23 Cambodia with scores of 4-0, 3-1 and 6-1 respectively. With 10 points, the top spot in the group belonged to coach Henrique Calisto's team.

In the semi-finals, Phan Thanh Binh and his teammates did not have much difficulty in winning 4-1 against U23 Singapore. The opponent of U23 Vietnam in the final match was none other than U23 Malaysia, their "defeated opponent" in the group stage. This was a great opportunity for U23 Vietnam to "quench their thirst for gold" at the SEA Games men's football.

The 2009 SEA Games final between U23 Vietnam and U23 Malaysia. Photo: kienthuc.net.vn

It was thought that coach Henrique Calisto and his team would easily overcome U23 Malaysia to win the prestigious gold medal, but things did not go as expected by experts and Vietnamese football fans. Goalkeeper Bui Tan Truong's mistake and the "unluckiness" of the strikers playing on the attack line, caused U23 Vietnam to accept a 0-1 defeat and sadly watch the gold medal fall into the hands of their opponents.

After 10 years, our team is again in the final match of the men's football event of the SEA Games. Similar to the tournament held in Laos in 2009, the opponent of U22 Vietnam in the final match is the "defeated general" in the group stage, U22 Indonesia. Hopefully, history will turn a new page, with the gold medal awarded to Coach Park Hang-seo and his team.