Losing to Vietnam, Myanmar fans attack female referee

Angry that the Vietnamese team was awarded a penalty in the last minute, Myanmar fans attacked the referee team, causing the semi-final match of the Southeast Asian Women's Football Championship on the evening of August 2 to be interrupted.

Korean referee Oh Hyeon Jeong.

The semi-final match was extremely tense with the final victory belonging to Vietnam, after overcoming their opponents 5-4 in the penalty shootout. The away team took a 2-0 lead after only the first 16 minutes. But in the second half, Myanmar took full advantage of their opponents' mistakes to lead 3-2. In the 5th minute of extra time, Minh Nguyen scored a penalty to equalize 3-3, after Huynh Nhu was fouled in the penalty area.

This incident, along with a red card for a Myanmar player, was the reason why the home crowd at Madalarthiri Stadium (Mandalay City) went crazy, because the match only had 4 minutes of extra time. Believing that the referee was on the side of the Vietnamese team, the Myanmar crowd continuously insulted the match officials and threw bottles and hard objects onto the field.

Even the Korean referee Oh Hyeon Jeong hesitated to control the match in an unsafe situation. The organizers had to work hard to control the overexcited crowd, allowing the two teams to play extra time. In the 30 minutes of extra time, the Vietnamese team created some good opportunities thanks to their advantage in more players, but Minh Nguyet and Nguyen Thi Hoa failed to take advantage of them.

In the 11m penalty shootout, coach Mai Duc Chung's students performed well to overcome the home team.

This is not the first time Myanmar fans have caused riots in the stands. In the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, when Myanmar met Oman on July 28, 2011 at home in Yangon, the extremists caused an unpleasant scene. Angry because the main referee Ryuji Sato (Japan) awarded Oman a penalty to increase the score to 2-0, the violent crowd threw hard objects, causing a player and an official of the visiting team to suffer head injuries.

The match was delayed for a few minutes because fans attacked the referee and caused a riot on the field. Photo: Thuy Nga

At the 2011 SEA Games at home, Myanmar's fanatical fans threw strange objects onto the field, attacked the referee and U23 Indonesia players after their team was eliminated in the group stage. In addition, they also attacked the police on the streets of the ancient capital Yangon after the match ended. The match was immediately canceled, FIFA banned Myanmar from playing in the 2014 and 2018 World Cup qualifiers. However, the Myanmar Football Federation (MMF) later appealed successfully, allowing their national team to compete in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. However, they were not allowed to play in the capital Yangon but had to use a neutral stadium in Bangkok (Thailand) as their home ground.

In this match, U23 Myanmar lost 0-1 to U23 Indonesia and had to say goodbye to the tournament bitterly. In utter disappointment, the home fans drank alcohol and burned the team's shirts at the east gate of Thuwuna Stadium. Firefighters and 2,000 riot police were dispatched but they could not quell the riot. The extremists threw bricks and stones at the police. Myanmar security forces then had to cut off the phone lines, use water cannons, and forcefully suppress the extremists.

According to Zing