Vietnam Futsal makes an earthquake against Japan, advances straight to World Cup 2016

After drawing 4-4 ​​with the defending champions in extra time, the Vietnamese team won 2-1 in the penalty shootout in the quarter-finals of the 2016 Asian Cup today, February 17. This is one of the biggest surprises in futsal history.

The 2016 AFC Futsal Championship, in addition to finding the continental champion, is also a competition for five tickets to represent Asia at the world championship held in Colombia. The four semi-finalists will get direct tickets, while the eliminated teams will play a play-off to compete for a wild card.

Finishing second in Group C, Vietnam faced the "giant" Japan in the quarterfinals. This is a team that has won the Asian Cup three times in 2006, 2012, 2014 and participated in the World Cup four times. In fact, the match somewhat showed the difference in class between the two teams, but in a day of sublime competition, resilience and luck in the penalty shootout, the boys in red made history.

Vietnam won its first ticket to the Futsal World Cup. Photo:Tu Tran.

Entering the match actively and creating consecutive opportunities, but the Vietnamese players have not reached the accuracy in the finishing phases to concretize the game. On the contrary, Japan is rated higher but chooses a lurking style of play, and maximizes the effectiveness in the siege phases. In the 7th minute, they scoredopened the score by Nibuya Kazuhiro. In the 13th minute, the gap was doubled when Morioka Kaoru shot directly, sending the ball through the barrier and into the net of goalkeeper Van Huy.

It seemed like Bruno Garcia and his team would have to accept a disastrous outcome, but just one minute later...Hope was rekindled. From a free kick, Van Vu accurately finished off the goalkeeper.Sekiguchi, reducing the score to 1-2.

The gap was only one goal, so after the break the boys in red rushed forward like a whirlwind. In the 22nd minute, Quoc Nam almost had a masterpiece with a shot from the corner of the home field, sending the ball just wide of the opponent's goal.

While creating a good game, the Vietnamese team suddenly had to accept an unlucky goal. Watanabe Tomoaki's long-range shot accidentally hit a red-shirted player and changed direction into the goal, causing goalkeeper Van Huy to react.too late. Japan thus took a 3-1 lead in the 25th minute.However, about 10 minutes later the gap was shortened thanks to Danh Phat.

The drama is heightened whenmatchWith two minutes left, the Vietnamese team played power-play (changing the goalkeeper, playing with five players). This strategy of having nothing to lose brought immediate results. Van Vu, after two consecutive shots from narrow angles, scored the equalizer 3-3 in the 39th minute, forcing the opponent to enter two extra periods.

The Vietnamese players had a resilient match. Photo: Tu Tran.

Showing their desire to end the match, instead of dragging it out to a penalty shootout, Japan rushed forward to attack. In the second minute of the first extra time, Morioka Kaoru unleashed a powerful shot that defeated goalkeeper Van Huy, raising the final score to 4-3.In the second extra time, the Vietnamese team was forced to use a risky five-man tactic. Van Vu had an early chance after a free kick arrangement with his teammates, but this time the ball hit a Japanese player even though the goalkeeper had been eliminated.In the third minute, the efforts of the boys in red were also rewarded. Thai Huy had a classy finish to equalize the score 4-4, forcing the two teams to decide the winner on the six-meter penalty spot.

In these three penalty shootouts, which are heavily influenced by luck,, the Vietnamese team sent goalkeeper Ý Hòa, who has good penalty-saving ability, to guard the goal.

Vietnam Futsal made one of the biggest surprises in the history of the tournament. Photo: Tu Tran.

If coach Bruno's players had been unlucky many times in the four rounds, luck smiled on them in the six-meter penalty shootout. The first shot from the Japanese player hit the crossbar, fell into the goal and bounced out, but the referee did not recognize the goal.Taking advantage of this "gift", Bao Quan completed the mission, bringing the Vietnamese team to a 1-0 lead. However, in the second round, Anh Tung missed his shot, while the opponent succeeded, so the score was tied at 1-1. In the third decisive round, goalkeeper Y Hoa successfully blocked the opponent's shot, creating a chance for Trong Luan to end the match.

On the threshold of history, Trong Luan made no mistake, defeating the opposing goalkeeper, helping the Vietnamese team win 2-1 to secure a ticket to the semi-finals, and at the same time realize the World Cup dream.In the next round, Vietnam meets Iran.

The other Southeast Asian representative, Thailand, earlier won 6-1 against Australia to enter the semi-finals.

According to VNE