of the AFF (ASEAN Football Federation) Championship, also known as the ‘Southeast Asia World Cup’. Vietnam defeated Shin Tae-yong’s Indonesia 2-0 in the second home game (Hanoi) of the semi-final held on the 9th. Nguyen Tien Linh scored two goals alone (3 minutes in the first half and 2 minutes in the second half).
After a goalless draw in the first leg of the away game, Vietnam advanced to the final with a total of 1 win and 1 draw in the two matches. Coach Park, who played psychological warfare after the first game, saying, “It was a tie, but we are stronger,” decorated the second game with a complete victory. Vietnam also broke the jinx of losing 9 games (6 draws and 3 losses) to Indonesia in this tournament since 2000. Indonesia, the runner-up in 2020, had to suffer in the semifinals. 안전놀이터
Head coach Park Hang-seo, who took over as head coach of Vietnam in October 2017, will challenge for the second championship in four years after winning the 2018 AAF Championship. Vietnam scored 14 goals in 6 matches from the group stage to the semi-finals, and the power is solid enough not to concede a single goal.
“Vietnam is one step above other Southeast Asian teams,” said coach Park, who will step down after this tournament. Vietnam will compete for the top spot with another semi-final winner of Malaysia-Thailand. Malaysia, under coach Kim Pan-gon, won the first leg 1-0.
The AFF Championship was founded in 1996 and is held biennially. From 2008 to 2020, it was called the Suzuki Cup after the name of the sponsor, but from this time the name was changed to the Mitsubishi Electric Cup.