Vietnam – Australia 3-4: Unable to break Australia's 'curse'

It was still the kangaroo team that for the second consecutive year prevented the Vietnamese team from reaching the final match of the tournament.

In the semi-finals of the AFF Cup 2013, it was Australia that forced coach Sergio Gargelli and his team to stop in the semi-finals with a 6-1 victory. This year, the Vietnamese futsal team has made a lot of progress under coach Bruno Formoso. According to insiders, defeating Australia is within reach.

Trong Luan (7) scored 2 goals but it was not enough to help Vietnam defeat Australia. Photo: VH

But yesterday afternoon's match in Malaysia was a sad memory for the Vietnamese team. Eager to pay back last year's debt, coach Bruno's players entered the match with more determination and initiative than their opponents. Australia had to choose a defensive style of play to protect their team's goal.

The Vietnamese team's attacking efforts were rewarded with an early goal by Trong Luan in the 7th minute. After this goal, Australia was forced to push their squad up to find an equalizer.

This created space for coach Bruno's players to create many more opportunities, but our strikers failed to take advantage of them. The Vietnamese team paid the price for this waste, because right before the end of the first half, Basger scored the equalizer 1-1 for Australia.

The second half was a completely different scenario, as Australia took advantage of their opportunities to continuously force Vietnam to chase the score. First, Fograty scored to raise the score to 2-1 for Australia.

It was not until the 36th minute that the Vietnamese team equalized 2-2, again thanks to Trong Luan. But almost immediately after this equalizer, the Vietnamese defense made a mistake allowing Giovenali to score, raising the score to 3-2. With nothing left to lose, the Vietnamese team had to rise up and the drama of the match was pushed to its climax 1 minute before the end of the match with the equalizer 3-3 by captain Bao Quan.

The two teams had to enter the decision of the winner in two extra periods, each lasting 5 minutes. At this point, coach Bruno Formoso's players had been thoroughly exploited by their opponents' physical weaknesses. In the 48th minute, striker Fograty completed his double to seal a 4-3 victory for Australia.

Unable to repay Australia in the semi-finals of this tournament, the Vietnamese team had to sadly play in the third-place match against Indonesia. Also in the third-place match last year, Vietnam lost to Indonesia.

In the first semi-final, Thailand showed that they are a team of higher class than Indonesia. Their loss to Vietnam in the group stage to receive second place and meet Indonesia in the semi-final was probably Thailand's calculation.

The only goal of the match for Thailand was scored by Wanlop Pansomsua with exactly 40 seconds left in the second half. Thailand will face Australia in the final tomorrow afternoon (September 27). Last year, they defeated the same opponent to win the title.

According to Thethaovanhoa