Striker Nguyễn Tiến Linh choose not to celebrate after his opening goal, out of respect for the typhoon victims. Việt Nam lost momentum after Linh's goal and Thailand completed the comeback in the first half. VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyết

Anh Đức

HÀ NỘI The Việt Nam national football team were beaten 1-2 by Thailand in their last game of the 2024 LPBank Cup friendly tournament.

The Golden Star Warriors opened the scoring through Nguyễn Tiến Linh, but goals from Suphanat Muenta and Patrik Gustavsson in the first half completed the comeback for Thailand.

The results also confirmed Russia as the winner of the tournament on goal difference, with Thailand second and Việt Nam third.

Before the match started, the players had a minute of silence for the victims of Typhoon Yagi, which wreaked havoc in Việt Nam last week. The match was also not attended by many fans, as the aftermath of the disaster prevented fans from going to the stadium.

This is Thailand's only match during this international period, as their match against Russia on September 7 was abandoned due to bad weather conditions created by the typhoon. Thailand's manager Masatada Ishii fielded his best squad possible against Việt Nam, despite the absence of superstars Theerathon Bunmathan and Chanathip Songkrasin.

The match started slowly as both teams were playing cautious, and also because the pitch conditions was not up to par. Cheers erupted for the home team in the 21st minute, after a great long ball from Quế Ngọc Hải found Tiến Linh through on goal. The Hải Dương-born striker pulled off a powerful shot that gave keeper Patiwat Khammai no chance to score his 21st goal for the national team. Linh declined to celebrate, out of respect for the victims of the recent natural disasters.

However, ASEAN's No.1 team soon found their equaliser, just five minutes after Tiến Linh's opener. A curled free kick from Ekanit Panya found Gustavsson, whose header to the far post found Suphanat, who simply tapped in Nguyễn Filip's empty net.

Vietnamese fans did have something to be angry at this match, besides their team's performance: the referee. Malaysian Bin Shukri made decisions that baffled many, going easy on tough challenges by the Thais in the first half, which in turn created an un-friendly situation in the 24th minute where Worachit Kanitsribampen kicked the leg of an already fallen Nguyễn Văn Trường, which provoked captain Ngọc Hải to create an altercation.

Some may say the men in red should have kept their head in the game, because just one minute after the quarrel, a clumsy clearance from Nguyễn Phong Hồng Duy became an assist for Gustavsson, who went one-on-one with Filip. Despite Việt Nam's No.1 denying the Swedish-Thai striker in Gustavsson's first attempt, he was helpless in the rebound and Thailand turned the game on its head.

Việt Nam had more chances in the second half as Thailand dropped deep and play counter-attack. Kim Sang Sik's attackers however, failed to find the net, with the closest being Nguyễn Hoàng Đức's strike late in the 86th minute that hit the crossbar.

The defeat will hamper Việt Nam's stance in the FIFA Rankings, and could indirectly affect the outcome of their 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification third round draw, which will be made on December 19.

Kim Sang Sik's men, however, have two more games to improve both their ranking points, and their playstyle in October, when they participate in the 2024 VFF Tri-Nations Series in Nam Định against India and Lebanon, before starting their 2024 ASEAN Championship journey against Laos on December 10. VNS