Vietnam vs Malaysia: A fateful battle

(Baonghean.vn) - Since Vietnamese football officially integrated with regional football, the confrontations between the Vietnamese team and Malaysia have always been dramatic, unpredictable and brought fans mixed emotions of joy and sadness.

* The match between Vietnam and Malaysia will take place at 3:30 p.m. on January 23.

At the 1995 Sea Games, the Vietnamese team, despite having just entered the regional arena, caused a big surprise when they won the Silver medal and their fate with Malaysia also began to be calculated from this tournament.

On the opening day, the Vietnamese team defeated Malaysia, a highly rated team at that time, with a convincing score of 2-0. Many experts later said that this victory was very important, helping the team gain great confidence in the path of integration with regional football.

Le Cong Vinh (9) and his teammates are eager to avenge the 4-5 defeat after 2 matches 2 years ago, at AF Cup 2014.

Two years later, also in the opening match of the Sea Games, Malaysia paid off the debt with a narrow 1-0 victory. The 1998 Tiger Cup was the third time the two teams met. Playing at Hang Day Stadium, the Vietnamese team under coach Riedl defeated Malaysia for the second time with the only goal scored by talented midfielder Nguyen Hong Son. In the group stage of the 2000 Tiger Cup, the first time the Vietnamese and Malaysian teams met without any goals being scored. Meeting again in the third-place match, Malaysia ended the unforgettable tournament for the Vietnamese team with a resounding 3-0 victory.

Tiger Cup 2002, Vietnam team under coach Calisto did not receive much expectation but played impressively and reached the third place match with Malaysia. In this honorable match, Vietnam team won with a score of 2-1.

In 2008, the Tiger Cup tournament was officially renamed the AFF Cup and it was a memorable year for the country's fans when the Vietnamese national team stood on the podium for the first time in history. However, the journey to the final match of coach Calisto and his team was not easy.

In the group stage, Vietnam lost 0-2 to Thailand, forcing coach Calisto and his team to win against Malaysia in the next match to win a ticket to the next round. The match was extremely dramatic when the two teams had a spectacular score chase. Thanh Luong and Vu Phong helped the home team take the lead twice, but the Malaysians fought hard to bring the match back to the starting line. Thanks to Vu Phong's lucky shot, Vietnam was able to win a ticket to the semi-finals as the second place in Group B.

Two years after the defeat in the 2008 AFF Cup, the Malaysian national team made a strong comeback in the 2010 AFF Cup. In the first leg of the semi-final at home in Bukit Jalil, Malaysia had an excellent match and won 2-0 thanks to a brace from Safee Sali. This defeat prevented the Vietnamese national team from recovering and they could only draw 0-0 in the second leg, thereby accepting to become the former champion of the AFF Cup. This was also the season when the Malaysian national team won the championship with a squad of talented and promising young players.

In the opening match, while the Malaysian team (white) won a hard-fought victory against Cambodia...

Perhaps the most bitter defeat of the Vietnam team was in the AFF Cup 2014. The tournament in which Malaysia was not highly rated, however, the mistakes and subjectivity of the players after defeating the opponent right at Malaysia's home ground in the first leg of the semi-final caused the Vietnam team to fall painfully in the second leg at My Dinh Stadium with an unexpected score (2-4).

In this year’s AFF Cup, coach Nguyen Huu Thang and his team are preparing very carefully for their journey to conquer the gold cup. Despite facing many difficulties in the first match, the boys in red showed their mettle to defeat the host team Myanmar with a score of 2-1 with 2 goals from Van Quyet and Cong Vinh.

...then Vietnam (white) only won a narrow victory against Myanmar.

On the other side of the front line, the Malaysian team also showed their inherent toughness by successfully coming back against the Cambodian team to win all 3 first points.

Before the kick-off, Le Cong Vinh and his teammates were determined to repay the debt they owed in the second leg of the semi-final two years ago. To do this, the boys in red had to keep a cool head because Malaysia is a team that always knows how to counter the opponent even though their performance may not be stable. The lesson from the failure in the 2014 AFF Cup is still present.

Obviously, both the Vietnamese and Malaysian teams aim to get 3 points in this fateful match to officially win a ticket to the semi-finals. With what coach Nguyen Huu Thang’s players are showing, Vietnamese fans have the right to hope that the Vietnamese team will overcome this difficult hurdle./.

Cao Anh