Vietnam’s coach Park Hang-seo says the national fighting spirit drove his team to the 2-1 victory over Indonesia Sunday.
“Today, we showed the Vietnam spirit. We conceded one goal in the first half, but we did not give up. The team fought and won. That’s the Vietnam spirit, we never surrender.”
Nguyen Hoang Duc’s late minute goal helped Vietnam U-22 men’s Olympic football team made a comeback victory over Indonesia with 2-1 at 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games football tournament here on Sunday.
With at least four young talents lined up for the national team squad at 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the powerhouses Vietnam scored 12 goals in their previous two games in SEA Games. Indonesia, however, took the lead in the 23rd minute as Sani Fauzi seized the goalkeeper’s error, scoring from a header.
Vietnam’s equalizer came in the 64th-minute from center-back Nguyen Thanh Chung through a short-range header. In the 91st-minute, Nguyen Hoang Duc’s thunderous shot to the top right corner from outside the box gave the Vietnamese the 2-1 lead.
After the comeback win, Vietnam stay at the top of Group B with three straight wins while Indonesia are surpassed by three-time defending champions Thailand, placing at the third.
Indonesia’s coach Indra Sjafri accepted the defeat and said they hope to play Vietnam again.
“Vietnam now has big advantages in the race to the semifinal. Indonesia will have to try hard in the last two matches. I hope we will meet Vietnam again in the final of the 30th SEA Games.”
Vietnam, having beaten Brunei 6-0 and Laos 6-1, remains top of group B after Sunday’s match. The team will play Singapore on Tuesday and Thailand on Thursday.
On the same day, Thailand beat Singapore 3-0, Laos beat Brunei 3-0.
The Vietnamese will play against Singapore on Tuesday, fighting for a victory to secure their qualification.
The champions and runners-up in each group will qualify for the semi-finals.
Rules permit all the 11 competing teams in the two groups to field two players older than 22.
This article first appeared on Vietnam Insider