Vietnamese in the US eagerly stay up all night to watch the U23 Vietnam - Qatar match

On the evening of January 20, millions of people poured into the streets of Vietnam, elated by the historic victory of the youth soccer team. At the same time, halfway around the world, at around 5am, Jimmy Le ran into the toilet, gesticulating, ecstatic in silence.

"My wife and children were sleeping next to me, so I couldn't scream freely. That feeling of being suppressed was terrible," Jimmy, 36, from Houston, Texas, told the news outlet today.VnExpress.

The Vietnamese-American refrigeration worker then took a day off from work and stayed home to watch the match over and over again with his 77-year-old father, who is also a fan of the Vietnam U23 team. He watched it a total of three times.

"Since I started watching football, this is the match in which the Vietnamese team has convinced me the most, played the best up to this point. It's truly a historic match! It's beyond amazing, my friend," Jimmy commented.

On January 20, the Vietnamese team defeated Iraq in a penalty shootout, becoming the first Southeast Asian team to reach the semi-finals of the AFC U23 Championship. Coach Park Hang-seo and his team caused a "shock" with a 5-3 victory in the penalty shootout, after a 3-3 draw in regular and extra time at the tournament held in China.

"Toowonderful, emotions went from happy to nervous to worried and finally overwhelmed. I was sitting with my two nephews at the time,"You yelled too loud, I was scared and almost cried", Le Hoang,27 years old, studying and working at Illinois State University, said.

Hoang likesVietnam's attacking style of play in the two extra halves, thinking it was much better than the other team. He likes player Xuan Truong the most because of his charisma.of a leader, calm, confident, with very intelligent passes.

Today, on the afternoon of January 23, when people all over Vietnam were eagerly watching the live semi-final match between U23 Vietnam and Qatar, Hoang had also prepared fast food to stay up all night to watch football.Jimmy formed a group with about 10 other Vietnamese football fans in Houston, watching TV online and commenting on the matches.

In Washington DC, Nguyen Phuc Quan, 29, a business strategy consultant, has been searching for a link to watch the Vietnam-Qatar semi-final live for the past few days. Although pHai went to work at 8am, Quan still set the alarm for 3am, willing to stay up all night to fight alongside the Vietnamese team."Sometimes I have to wrap a towel around my mouth to keep from screaming," Quan joked as he lay next to his sleeping wife.

He clearly remembers the feeling of pride when watching his team's historic victory in the match against Iraq."Proud"Not only about football but also about how Vietnamese people unite together every time the team represents the whole country in a continental tournament," Quan said.

That day, nImmediately after the match ended, Quan participated in an amateur soccer match with American and international friends. He said that his team's victory made him play more enthusiastically and better.

Assessing the upcoming match with Qatar, Quan is "very confident" in the team's ability to reach the final. "VWe have overcome the most difficult obstacles. The problem here is just to keep a cool head and a hot spirit like in the past matches."

Hoang thinks Qatar is not strong.like Iraq so he thinks the results could be better. He thinks that althoughThe other team has better physical strength and completely dominates their physique. In terms of technique, Vietnam is not inferior.

If Vietnam wins, Hoang will go online to see how people celebrate back home. "What I like most is reading articles about Vietnam's victory. I can't finish reading them all."

Commenting on the match, Jimmy said: "VietnamI still have one weapon that helped me reach the semi-finals, which is my fighting spirit.Hopefully the scenario is the same as the Iraq battle".