Bùi Vĩ Hào (11) and his teammates encountered a tough early game against Malaysia, but ultimately came out on top. VNA/VNS Photo Văn Lanh

Anh Đức

DOHA - The Việt Nam national football team are closer to the quarterfinals of the 2024 AFC U23 Asian Cup, after a 2-0 victory against Malaysia on Saturday.

A marvellous free kick from Khuất Văn Khang and a confident penalty from Võ Hoàng Minh Khoa were enough to grant Coach Hoàng Anh Tuấn's team the necessary three points and the upper hand in the race for the quarterfinals.

Two changes were made by Coach Tuấn, with Nguyễn Mạnh Hưng and Nguyễn Văn Trường replacing the suspended Nguyễn Ngọc Thắng and the injured Nguyễn Đình Bắc.

Malaysia, needing a victory to keep qualification hopes alive, went all out in the opening minutes. Scotland-born striker Fergus Tierney had the first dangerous chance of the game, firing a shot that went centimetres wide.

Tierney's teammate, Mukhairi Ajmal had a similar chance, but this time his effort was on target and forced a save from keeper-captain Quan Văn Chuẩn.

Việt Nam slowly reclaimed their control, and Minh Khoa almost scored the opener for Việt Nam in the 18th minute, but keeper Amin saved his point-blank header. Malaysia then retaliated with two attempts on goal, after clumsy mistakes in the Vietnamese defence.

The breakthrough for the Golden Star Warriors came in the 37th minute, after Võ Nguyên Hoàng had his shirt pulled by Ubaidullah near Malaysia's six-yard box.

From around twenty metres, Văn Khang fired a wonderful free kick into the top corner with his left foot and opened the score for Việt Nam. Fans on social media went wild and even made comparisons to goals from Nguyễn Quang Hải and Lionel Messi.

In the final minutes of the first half, Malaysia piled up the pressure, but Việt Nam's defence stayed strong and protected the one goal lead.

After the break, Tuấn directed his team to slow down play and tighten up the defence. He subbed off two strikers in Nguyễn Văn Tùng and Nguyên Hoàng, and brought on Bùi Vĩ Hào and defender Nguyễn Hồng Phúc.

And just like the previous match against Kuwait, Tuấn's substitutions were splendidly on point. In the 58th minute, Vĩ Hào was brought down inside the penalty area after a menacing dribble, and Iranian referee Mooud Bonyadifard pointed directly to the spot.

Minh Khoa, who had a goal disallowed in the last match, took the penalty confidently and doubled Việt Nam's lead.

With nothing left to lose, Malaysia put all their men forward in the final fifteen minutes. Their best effort came in the first minute of added time, with a vicious volley from Luqman Hakim, but Văn Chuẩn pulled off a perfect save to deny the Malaysian winger. The match ended with a crucial 2-0 victory for Việt Nam.

"I am very happy to score a goal that helped my team take a step closer to qualification," said goalscorer Khuất Văn Khang, "You can't be sure of anything in football, and we will look to take it one game at a time."

Việt Nam awaits the late match between Uzbekistan and Jordan; a win or draw for Uzbekistan would confirm Việt Nam's third consecutive advancement to the quarterfinals of the AFC U23 Asian Cup. Hoàng Anh Tuấn's team will face Uzbekistan in the final match of Group D on Tuesday. VNS