Looking back at the bitter battle in the snow of the U23 Vietnam warriors
For the first time, Quang Hai and his teammates had to play football in heavy snow, which greatly affected their vision and technique in the U23 Asia final match against Uzbekistan.
The temperature in Changzhou before the match was around -3 degrees Celsius. Snow was falling heavily. The field where the Vietnam - Uzbekistan final match was taking place was covered with a thick layer of snow. It was not until close to the match time that the stadium organizers and the AFC decided to keep the U23 Asian Cup final match as scheduled.
The organizers of Changzhou Stadium cleared the snow from the pitch for the players to warm up. For the first time in their career, Park Hang-seo’s players played under unfamiliar conditions, with a white pitch, yellow balls, and the field lines only distinguishable by clearing the snow.
Fans across Asia believed that Vietnam was at a huge disadvantage in these conditions, as they had never experienced anything like Uzbekistan. Throughout the 90 minutes of regulation time and two extra periods, the Central Asian representatives proved that assessment to be correct when they maintained their team play and technical dribbling.
Uzbekistan opened the scoring in the eighth minute. Rustamjon Ashurmatov fired from close range from a corner kick. The ball went into the middle of the goal, but goalkeeper Tien Dung could not see it because of the obstructed view and heavy snow.
After being forced into a tight position in the first 15 minutes, Vietnam began to regain control of the game in the second half. Park Hang-seo's players gradually got used to the limited vision and launched sharp attacks.
In the 41st minute, Cong Phuong tried to dribble the ball, forcing an Uzbekistan defender to illegally block him right in front of the penalty area. Vietnam was awarded a direct free kick. This was considered a good opportunity for Vietnam, as time was running out towards the end of the first half and the red team was at a disadvantage due to the weather.
Quang Hai did not disappoint his teammates. He made a beautiful left-footed shot, sending the ball into the top corner of the Uzbekistan goalkeeper's goal to tie the score 1-1. This was the fifth goal of the Hanoi FC striker in the 2018 AFC U23 Championship finals.
For the third consecutive time, Vietnam was put in a chasing position and excelled in each match. The previous two times, Park Hang-seo's team was led 1-2 by Iraq and 0-1 by Qatar. With Quang Hai's goal against Uzbekistan, many Vietnamese fans thought of a happy ending for the fairy tale that the red team wrote in China.
">Quang Hai's goal showed Vietnam's extraordinary fighting spirit. Former football star Dang Phuong Nam commented: "Vietnamese players have never seen, let alone played football on a snow field. In such harsh conditions, Coach Park Hang-seo's students still played as well as in previous matches, their coordination is really great."
The second half of the match started half an hour late so that the organizers could clear the snow from the pitch. Uzbekistan even had to change their jerseys to blue to make it easier to distinguish. According to the weather forecast, the snow would stop falling around 4pm, Hanoi time. Therefore, the pitch in the second half was much better than the first 45 minutes.
Uzbekistan still had the initiative but failed to score any goals in the official match. Vietnam almost made a difference in the first extra time, with a close-range header from Duc Chinh. It seemed that the two teams would have to settle the score in a penalty shootout, but substitute Andrey Sidorov scored the decisive goal in the penultimate minute of 119, one minute after entering the field.
Vietnam lost the final of the U23 Asian Cup regrettably. However, the tournament in early 2018 was still a great success for Park Hang-seo and his team in particular and Vietnamese football in general. This is considered a strong push for Vietnam to aim for the AFF Cup 2018 and ASIAD 18, which will start in August 2018.
