Vietnam - Japan: 0 - 1: Stop in glory

Entering the match, the Vietnam national team surprised everyone by raising their attack formation and immediately had 2 consecutive corner kicks in the 4th minute of the first match but failed to take advantage of them. In the following minutes, Coach Park Hang-seo's students continued to create significant pressure on the opponent's goal but Cong Phuong and his teammates on the attack line were still unable to break the deadlock.

After being overwhelmed by the opponent in the early stages, the Japanese team gradually regained control of the game and soon had responses on goalkeeper Dang Van Lam's goal.

VIETNAM NATIONAL TEAM STARTING LINEUP.

In the 26th minute, from a corner kick, Yoshida, a player playing for Southampton, headed the ball close to the goal, defeating goalkeeper Dang Van Lam. However, in the first VAR technology applied at the Asian Cup, the main referee confirmed that the ball touched the Japanese captain's hand before going into the net.

Just 1 minute later, Cong Phuong had an impromptu solo run through a series of opposing defenders, however the Nghe An player's final shot did not hit the target.

The two teams continued to create a tit-for-tat situation, however, in an excellent match, the Vietnamese defense continuously calmly handled the opponent's attacks while the offense continuously created extremely dangerous situations. From Van Duc, Quang Hai to Cong Phuong missed situations where if we had been luckier, we could have scored.

The team had an exciting first half against a team that was considered stronger. Photo: AFC

In the first half's extra time, the Japanese team had some dangerous situations, however, Van Lam played excellently to keep the scoreboard intact before the referee blew the whistle to end the match.

Entering the second half, the Japanese team with their class created strong pressure on the Vietnamese team's field. After more than 10 minutes of struggling to defend, the Vietnamese team's defense system made a mistake. From a situation of fighting left and right in the penalty area, Ritsu Doan fell down after being fouled by center back Bui Tien Dung.

Based on VAR technology, the referee decided to award Japan a penalty kick and the player who was fouled earlier made no mistake to open the score for the home team in the 57th minute.

The Vietnamese team played with great effort after conceding a goal, but the Japanese team played with discipline and confidence. Photo: AFC

In the following minutes, while the defense played extremely tightly, the Japanese team's strikers freely launched attacks and continuously penetrated the right wing of the Vietnamese team, creating dangerous opportunities, but Van Lam did not give the opponent a chance to widen the gap.

When they had scored and time was running out in the final minutes, the Japanese team deployed their familiar style of play with a large number of players playing tightly and covering each other well, creating a defensive wall that caused a lot of difficulty for the Vietnamese team's attacks.

Unable to coordinate comfortably like in the first half, Coach Park Hang-seo's students had to use long-range shots, but Hung Dung, Quang Hai and Hong Duy were all unsuccessful in their attempts to try their luck.

The match gradually passed into the final minutes, despite great efforts, the Vietnam team could not score a goal and had to accept a regretful defeat against Japan with a score of 0-1 and accepted to stop at the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup 2019.