HÀ NỘI — Thailand won the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Women’s Football Championship after beating Việt Nam 7-6 on penalties, after a 1-1 draw in regular time and extra-time yesterday.

The game was also a rematch between the two teams in the championship and Thailand managed to get revenge after they lost Việt Nam 2-0 in a group match last week.

Việt Nam started offensive play from the first few minutes when striker Hải Yến launched a 30m cannon towards goal, but it sailed over the bar.

However, Thailand took the lead with a goal in the eighth minute.

In an effort to play the ball out from Thailand’s corner kick, Vietnamese defender Chương Thị Kiều’s clumsy control scored an own goal for Thailand.

After the shock of the first goal, striker Nguyễn Thị  Muôn missed a clear chance when her close range header skimmed the post in the 13th minute.

Thailand set up a solid defence to block stormy attacks from Việt Nam and they successfully kept leading the first half 1-0.

After the break, Thailand set up crowd defence and left only striker Kanjana in the front line, and their well-organised defence almost limited the pressure from Việt Nam.

In the 71st minute, Minh Nguyệt fired a close range shot in the penalty area, but her shot just hit the post and missed the goal.

In an attack in the 85th minute, Vietnamese left wing back Nguyễn Thị Xuyến sent a curve to the target to force Thai goalie Waraporn Boonsing to parry the ball, and Nguyệt came in to net the rebound into the back of the net.

Việt Nam sent more attacks towards Thailand in extra-time, but they failed to beat Thailand’s defence.

In penalties, Thai players did better when they missed three, while Việt Nam failed four shots.

In the third-place match, Myanmar beat Australia 1-0. — VNS