Vietnam at the AFC Asian Cup

Vietnam has qualified for three AFC Asian Cups so far: 1956 AFC Asian Cup, 1960 AFC Asian Cup, 2007 AFC Asian Cup and 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

With the establishment of the AFC Asian Cup in 1956, Vietnam—known as the Republic of Vietnam or South Vietnam, had taken total two first appearances in two maiden 1956 and 1960 editions, since South Vietnam was a member of FIFA in contrast to North Vietnam. Vietnam won fourth place in both editions. By the end of Vietnam War however, this would be Vietnam's only appearances in the AFC Asian Cup for 47 years, due to the country's total destruction aftermath and subsequent conflicts between Vietnam and its neighbours. This had a serious impact and weakened Vietnam from a football powerhouse into one of Asia's weak teams.

Since returning to football stage at 1990s, Vietnam has failed to qualify for any Asian Cup as an unified nation, and didn't participate for consecutive 11 next editions before awarded as host in 2007 together with Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Despite this long 47 years failing to qualify, Vietnam surprised the continent in 2007 by a shocking 2–0 victory over the UAE, a draw with Qatar and in spite of losing 1–4 to Asia's giant Japan, Vietnam successfully qualified to the quarter-finals while three other co-hosts failed to do so, before losing to eventual champions Iraq.

However, after the dramatic run in 2007, Vietnam failed to qualify again for the 2011 and 2015 editions, before finally returned in 2019 AFC Asian Cup. With the recent rise of Vietnamese football in international stage, such as the participation of fustal and U-20 team in 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup and 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup; especially the Olympic team won silver medal in 2018 AFC U-23 Championship, Vietnam was expected to bright in the next year despite being positioned with so many hard and difficult opponents.

1956 Asian Cup

Vietnam, as South Vietnam, participated in the inaugural edition of the Asian Cup, having edged Malaya in a 7–3 aggregate qualification, together with three other teams, host Hong Kong, South Korea and Israel. It would be Vietnam's debut in the Asian Cup.[1]

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 South Korea 321096+35
 Israel 320165+14
 Hong Kong 302167−12
 South Vietnam 301269−31

In the opening match against host Hong Kong, then-Asia's top teams, South Vietnam could manage only a 2–2 draw over the host.

South Vietnam 2 – 2 Hong Kong
Trần Văn Tổng  30'
Lê Hữu Đức  64'		 Chu Wing Wah  59' (pen.)
Lau Chi Lam  79'
Attendance: 30,000

In the second game, South Vietnam would have been edged, but not without putting a good fight towards Israel, in a 1–2 defeat.

Israel 2 – 1 South Vietnam
Stelmach  14', 27' Trần Văn Tổng  58'
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: Tommy Tucker (England)

In the last match, South Vietnam and South Korea created a thriller, which ended with the 5–3 victory for the Koreans. Eventually, South Vietnam won fourth place for the first time, and also their best result to date.

South Korea 5 – 3 South Vietnam
Sung Nak-woon  5'
Woo Sang-kwon  41' (pen.), 58'
Choi Chung-min  57', 66'		 Trải Văn Đào  20'
Lê Hữu Đức  51', 63'
Attendance: 11,000

1960 Asian Cup

South Vietnam would have made their second debut in the tournament, after successfully edged Singapore and Malaya in the qualification round. In there, they once again faced South Korea and Israel, with debutant Republic of China. It would be a more disappointing performance than four years ago, as South Vietnam were all defeated in three matches, especially losing 1–5 to both South Korea and Israel. South Vietnam won fourth place twice, and it would have remained as Vietnam's only two appearances in the Asian Cup for the next 47 years.[1]

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 South Korea 330091+86
 Israel 320164+24
 Republic of China 31022202
 South Vietnam 3003212−100
South Korea 5 – 1 South Vietnam
Cho Yoon-ok  15', 71'
Woo Sang-kwon  27'
Choi Chung-min  47'
Moon Jung-sik  56'		 Nguyễn Văn Tu  70'
Attendance: 30,000
South Vietnam 1 – 5 Israel
Trần Văn Nhung  68' (pen.) R. Levi  13'
Stelmach  18'
S. Levi  25'
Menchel  32'
Aharonskind  70'
Attendance: 15,000

Since then, due to the later Vietnam War and subsequent conflicts, Vietnam could not play any big tournament for the next 47 years, before returning to international stage in 2007.

2007 Asian Cup

In 2004, Vietnam, together with Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand were awarded as hosts for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, signalled the return of Vietnam after 47 years. However, Vietnam was pushed into a tough group, consisting three champions: Japan, then-Asian champions; the United Arab Emirates, then-Gulf champions and Qatar, with the squad mostly made up from 2006 Asian Games in which Qatar won the gold medal. Being in a tough group, Vietnam was not expected to pass through nor even having a point, but rather just a point basket for these teams.

Nonetheless, under Austrian manager Alfred Riedl, Vietnam stunned all predictions. In the opening account, Vietnam surprised by defeating Gulf champions UAE, before drew another Gulf team, Qatar. Although losing the final match against Japan, Vietnam wrote history as the only host to qualify for the tournament's quarter-finals while Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia failed to do so.[2] However, Vietnam would have to end their fairytale after being defeated by latter champion Iraq. It remains as Vietnam's best performance ever since the reunification of Vietnam.[3]

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Japan 321083+57
 Vietnam 311145−14
 United Arab Emirates 310236−33
 Qatar 302134−12
Qatar 1–1 Vietnam
Soria  79' Report Phan Thanh Bình  32'
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: Masoud Moradi (Iran)
Vietnam 1–4 Japan
Suzuki  8' (o.g.) Report Maki  12', 59'
Endō  31'
S. Nakamura  53'
Attendance: 40,000

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals
Iraq 2–0 Vietnam
Mahmoud  2', 65' Report
Attendance: 9,720

2019 AFC Asian Cup

Vietnam would have to wait for twelve years later to return for the AFC Asian Cup, this time to be hosted in the UAE. By then, Vietnam was placed with so many hard opponents, including two former Asian champions, Iran and Iraq, with the unknown debutant Yemen. This is the third times Vietnam was drawn with Asia's no.1 team, this time is Iran, after having drawn with South Korea in two inaugural editions, and Japan in 2007 editions.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Iran 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout stage
2  Iraq 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3  Vietnam 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Possible knockout stage based on ranking
4  Yemen 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played on 7 January 2019. Source: AFC
Iraq Match 8 Vietnam
Report
Vietnam Match 19 Iran
Report
Vietnam Match 31 Yemen
Report

Overview

AFC Asian Cup record AFC Asian Cup qualification
Year Result Pos. Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
1956Fourth Place4/4301269211073
1960Fourth Place4/43003212220051
1964Did not qualify
1968
1972
1976Did not enterDid not enter
1980
1984
1988
1992
1996Did not qualify3201135
20003201142
20046303813
2007Quarter-finals8/16411247Host
2011Did not qualify6123611
20156105515
2019Qualified124531611
Total Best: Fourth place 4/17 10 1 2 7 12 28 40 16 8 16 74 61

References

  1. 1 2 "Asian Cup: Know Your History - Part One (1956-1988)". Goal.com. 7 January 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  2. ↑ "Iraq's 2007 AFC Asian Cup fairytale". Asian Football Confederation. 7 July 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2018. Vietnam were playing in their first AFC Asian Cup since 1960 as South Vietnam, and goals from Huynh Quang Thanh and Le Cong Vinh secured the country's first-ever win in the competition with a 2-0 victory over the UAE, before a 1-1 draw with Qatar was enough to see the co-hosts make the knockout stage.
  3. ↑ Thành Trung; Ngọc Thanh (21 July 2007). "Tứ kết Asian Cup 2007, Việt Nam - Iraq (0-2): Dừng bước ở thiên đường!" (in Vietnamese). Việt Báo. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
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