Newcomer scores, Vietnam team escapes defeat against Philippines

On the evening of December 18, at Rizal Memorial Stadium (Manila, Philippines), the confrontation between the Vietnamese and Philippine teams at the ASEAN Cup 2024 took place.

Before entering this confrontation, the Vietnamese team had just had an important victory over Indonesia. This victory also helped Kim Sang-sik and his team gain 6 points after 2 matches and rise to the top of Group B.

According to the current scores of the teams, the Vietnamese team only needs to get 1 point against the Philippines to soon win a ticket to the Semi-finals. However, coach Kim Sang-sik and his team still show their determination to win all 3 points in this match.

Therefore, coach Kim Sang-sik arranged the team with many changes. Specifically, standing in the goal of the Vietnamese team in this match is Filip Nguyen. The 3 central defenders include: Duy Manh, Viet Anh and Nguyen Thanh Binh. Meanwhile, Van Khang, Van Thanh, Quang Hai, Ngoc Tan, Chau Ngoc Quang play in the midfield position, playing highest on the attack line are Dinh Thanh Binh, Vi Hao.

On the other side of the front line, with a draw against Laos, the Philippines only has 2 points after 2 matches and needs to win to have any hope of passing the group stage.

So with that importance, the home team started the game quite cautiously as soon as the ball was rolled on Rizal Memorial Stadium. The artificial pitch of Rizal Memorial Stadium really caused many difficulties for the Vietnamese team. The bounce and speed of the ball were quite different from natural grass. This made it difficult for the Vietnamese players to pass the ball well. The Philippines even started the game better and caused many difficulties for the Vietnamese team with their determined play.

In the 9th minute, the referee pointed to the 11m mark after Vu Van Thanh was pushed down by Adrian Ugelvik in the Philippines penalty area. However, VAR intervened, forcing the referee to go to the sideline to review the collision and then blew the whistle, canceling the penalty.

The Vietnamese team had more shots than the home team in the first half. However, there was only one really dangerous situation in front of the home team's goal, which was Dinh Thanh Binh's shot that forced goalkeeper Patrick Deyto to show his talent to save the home team. The match was quite deadlocked, the first 45 minutes of the match ended without any really notable situations for either team.

In the second half, the Vietnamese team almost opened the score when Van Thanh rushed up to finish from the second line but the ball hit the crossbar. In the 62nd minute, the player who entered the field at the beginning of the second half, Hoang Duc, shook the opponent's goal with a shot that hit the woodwork.

The surprise happened in the 68th minute when Khuat Van Khang, under the influence of a Filipino player, headed the ball away but accidentally created an assist for Javier Gayoso. The Philippine player No. 9 fired a decisive shot that Nguyen Filip could not block.

After conceding the goal, coach Kim Sang Sik sent Tien Linh, Van Vi, and Tuan Hai onto the field, but the Vietnamese team's play was still not cohesive, so they could not create danger in front of Deyto's goal for a long time.

When the match entered 8 minutes of extra time, the Vietnamese players pushed up and increased the pressure. In the 90+7 minute, after Deyto failed to block the Vietnamese team's corner kick, Doan Ngoc Tan seized the opportunity to score the equalizer 1-1.

With the draw in the Philippines, the Vietnamese team still leads Group B with 7 points, the Philippines has 3 points and is in 3rd place. In the final round on December 21, the Philippines will visit Indonesia, while Vietnam will host Myanmar at Phu Tho Stadium.