Despite defeat, Vietnam is still the most impressive team in Southeast Asia.
(Baonghean.vn) - Although losing to Iraq, it is clear that the Vietnamese national team has shown its position as the best team in Southeast Asia at present.
Indeed, what the two teams Vietnam and Iraq showed in the second match of Group D deserves to be the most exciting match of the Asian Cup up to now.
Although before that, Vietnam was considered much weaker. Even the coach of Iraq showed contempt with the statement:“We don't care about the Vietnamese team but only focus on the confrontation with our neighbor Iran later.”
Naturally, with the higher position, Iraq attacked overwhelmingly from the start. However, Vietnam's defense had anticipated the situation so it was not difficult to neutralize the opponent's attacks.
The most surprising thing in this match was that Vietnam took the lead twice. However, with their superior physique and physical strength, Iraq knew how to take advantage of the advantage and successfully equalized.
The final goal conceded by the Vietnam national team was truly regrettable because it happened right at the end of the match. Iraq's goal came from a free kick after an unnecessary foul by Hong Duy.
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Despite losing the match, Vietnam has proven its position as the king of Southeast Asia. |
Despite a regrettable 2-3 loss, Vietnam can hold their heads high after this match. They are the Southeast Asian team with the best performance at the Asian Cup so far.
Previously, Thailand had to pay the price for being subjective when underestimating their opponents. They were humiliated by a 1-4 defeat to the team from South Asia, India. It is worth mentioning that Thailand brought the strongest squad to this tournament with many quality players added after the AFF Cup such as Chanathip Songkrasin (Consadole Sapporo, Japan) and Teerasil Dangda (Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Japan).
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Despite adding many quality players, Thailand still lost miserably at the Asian Cup. |
It must be added that Iraq is a team of much higher class than India. And the way Vietnam lost to Iraq left more expectations than the weak image that the Thais showed before.
The remaining representative of Southeast Asia, the Philippines, is also worthy of praise. They made Korea struggle to get a minimal 1-0 victory in the opening match.
Thai people once thought that the reason why Vietnam won the AFF Cup was partly because the Thai team did not have the best squad. However, after what happened at the Asian Cup until now, fans in the region can confirm that Vietnam is the current leading flag of Southeast Asian football.

Review Vietnam's goals against Iraq
(Baonghean.vn) - At the end of the first half of the match, the Vietnam team surprisingly led Iraq with a score of 2-1.