Vietnam v United Arab Emirates (2007 AFC Asian Cup)
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| Date | 8 July 2007 | ||||||
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| Venue | Mỹ Đình National Stadium, Hanoi | ||||||
| Referee | Talaat Najm (Lebanon) | ||||||
| Attendance | 39,450 | ||||||
The Vietnam v United Arab Emirates match was a football match in 2007, during the 2007 AFC Asian Cup and it is still remembered by majority of Vietnamese football fans as a historical result as it was the debut of an unified Vietnam national football team in any big tournament, having participated as South Vietnam in two inaugural editions.
Vietnam qualified to the tournament as one of the four co-hosts, together with Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand after the AFC announced host nations for the 2007 edition. It was the return of Vietnam in any international tournament over 47 years. It was obvious that Vietnam's successful victory over the UAE had been considered as the milestone that started the football renaissance in the country, which is traditionally football-lovers.
Prelude
Vietnam used to play in two first AFC Asian Cup editions, 1956 and 1960, as South Vietnam since South Vietnam was a member of both AFC and FIFA in contrast to North Vietnam. Back then, Vietnam was a top football nation in Asia, and was highly regarded as a strong team. Vietnam won fourth place in both editions. However, with the following Vietnam War, and subsequent conflicts after 1975 against Khmer Rouge, China and Thailand, Vietnam was totally devastated, and football could not develop as for the result of the civil war and international sanctions and isolation. Only following Đổi mới at 1986, Vietnam started to return to international stage, but it had been seriously weakened and often failed to manage in big stages. Vietnam, one a glorious Asian nation that often fought for their sovereignty, was now reduced into a tiny weak team.
On the mean time, the United Arab Emirates, founded at 1971 by the strong advocation of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, had started to emerge. Within few years, the UAE soon replaced Vietnam and became a new rising power in Asia. Ever since their first appearance at 1980 AFC Asian Cup, the team had grown rapidly and successfully qualified for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, their only World Cup to date. The UAE also won silver medal in 1996 AFC Asian Cup and qualified for 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup, their second FIFA tournament, made the UAE a successful football country. By the time they qualified to the 2007 Asian Cup, they were led by Bruno Metsu, French manager who had helped Senegal going to quarter-finals in their maiden 2002 FIFA World Cup. The UAE had won 2007 Gulf Cup of Nations at home.
Under the circumstance, the UAE was believed to be a strong team and even when Vietnam had been host, there was little expectation that Vietnam could manage to make surprise.
Perpetration
Vietnam
Vietnam was not regarded as a top team and before that, they had a disappointing 2006 World Cup qualification, only finished third with four points. Vietnam's performance had also suffered significant criticisms in earlier 2007 AFF Championship, when Vietnam was eliminated in the semi-finals on the hand of the Thais, in a humiliating 0–2 defeat at home and 0–0 away draw. Due to disappointing performance, Vietnam was expected to end up in defeat, and coach Alfred Riedl of Vietnam also had little expectation to hope. Vietnam even suffered bad luck in earlier draw when they were drawn with three champions in one group: Japan, then-Asian champion, having won the 2004 edition; Qatar, the champion of 2006 Asian Games and the UAE, then-champion of the Gulf Cup also held earlier in 2007.[1]
United Arab Emirates
The UAE suffered several losses with some injured players ruled out of the team, but even before the match, the UAE was still believed to outclass Vietnam. The UAE, having just enjoyed winning the 2007 Gulf Cup, had several top stars in their squad, notably Ismail Matar, Amer Mubarak and Faisal Khalil. They were also under charge of famous French coach, Bruno Metsu, who had led Senegal to quarter-finals of 2002 World Cup. Under the circumstance, the UAE was expected to have made into the semi-finals, and Vietnam was seen as a point basket for the UAE to do.
Match
Summary
First half
After the anthems, Vietnam and the UAE opened the group B match after the whistle of Lebanese referee Talaat Najm.
As the fans had expected, the UAE increased their pressure in the opening minutes. Back then, weaker teams often play defensive against stronger teams, hence it was not a surprise that Vietnam had to play defense. Even Vietnam was cheered by majority of home fans, the UAE dominated the opening minutes and even they didn't pull all strength, the UAE still showed their experiences and skills. Some several chances in few minutes earlier, however, was from the Vietnamese side, but it was too poor to become a goal. The UAE took control over possession, seizing more than 50% and managed to create several attacks. It was no use overall. Seeing the UAE dominated Vietnam in all corners of the My Dinh Stadium, everyone expected it was the matter of time if the UAE scored a goal, not first then it would be second half.
Nonetheless, the Vietnamese midfielders and defenders proved to be tough. They played well and had disabled several opportunities of the Gulf side, effectively brought the first half into a 0–0 draw. Vietnamese goalkeeper, Dương Hồng Sơn, also played a role on keeping clean sheet.
Second half
The second half was once again dominated by the Gulf team on the beginning. The UAE was quick to create long ball pass and free kicks. Neither was successful however. For the UAE, missing a lot of opportunities didn't affect them much and they kept playing pressure. Reckless defense of the UAE, ironically, would have paved way for a surprise.
When the ball was passed from the Emirati defender to the midfield for Ismail Matar, he lost the ball to the feet of Huỳnh Quang Thanh. Quang Thanh decided to make a pass to Nguyễn Minh Phương before he managed a speedy run into the penalty area of the UAE. The Emirati defenders, unaware with the pass and the appearance of Quang Thanh, were startled to realize Quang Thanh headed to the ball facing Majed Naser in their penalty area. But it was too late and Quang Thanh's decisive strike put Vietnam a shock 1–0 lead in 64'. It was a total surprise for even those watching the tournament, since the UAE was expected to win Vietnam easily, had to fight back from being led.
Faisal Khalil almost had a chance to equalize, but he was too fast and lost the ball. Soon after, Vietnam took advantage and returned counter-attack to the Gulf side. However, Phùng Văn Nhiên was too slow to make sense and it was quickly retaken by Rashid Abdulrahman Al-Hawsani before he passed to Matar. Matar shot directly to the foot of Nguyễn Huy Hoàng and after it was sent by Hoang to captain Minh Phuong, Phuong made a long pass to Lê Công Vinh at the expense of Emirati players. The long pass totally surprised the Emiratis, and Vinh was not hesitate kicking the ball over the hands of Naser before it fell into the net. It was 73' when Vietnam stunned the UAE by leading 2–0.
The Emiratis took all of the last minutes hoping to equalize, but was no avail and aftermath, Vietnam beat the UAE 2–0, creating the biggest shock in the tournament's opening days. For the UAE, the loss had a disastrous consequence for their campaign. For Vietnam, their shock victory over one of Asia's renown team, had helped establish the image of Vietnam in the future.
Details
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   United Arab Emirates
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Man of the Match
Assistant referees:
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Aftermath
Vietnam's victory over the UAE in the tournament was considered as the biggest blow in the tournament. Prior to the tournament, Vietnam was expected to make an early exit, while the UAE was expected to book their ticket to the semi-finals. For coach Metsu, he could not believe what he just saw from his eyes.[2]
The match's ending had a significant consequence for the tournament. Vietnam's inspirational victory over the UAE had made up spirits that every Southeast Asian teams could win, citing how weak Vietnam was before the match. In spite of it, in all four host nations, ironically, only Vietnam qualified to the knockout stage, while much stronger Thailand and Indonesia crashed out of the tournament. Malaysia even ended up in bottom. Vietnam's victory inspired the co-host to draw 1–1 with another Gulf team, Qatar; and although lost 1–4 to much powerful Japan, Vietnam successfully went to the quarter-finals[3] where they were beaten by later champions Iraq; Vietnam took the lead in all three opening matches. The tournament was seen as a big football renaissance in the country, and would have put the milestone for their future successes.[4]
For the UAE, the defeat had a disastrous consequence and making the team less confident as they used to be. The UAE was beaten 1–3 by Japan and their 2–1 win over neighbor Qatar was too little, too late. Ironically, UAE’s victory over Qatar helped Vietnam to go through for the first time. The UAE would have suffered crisis, and their later participation in 2011 AFC Asian Cup was even more terrible when they had a player scored two own goals and scored no goal in response, ending up in bottom. Only at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, the UAE restored their confident after winning bronze medal.
See also
References
- ↑ "VFF - Kết quả bốc thăm VCK Asian Cup 2007: Việt Nam cùng bảng Nhật Bản, UAE, Qatar". vff.org.vn. Retrieved 2018-06-10.
- ↑ "Thắng UAE, Việt Nam gây sốc tại Asian Cup - VnExpress Thể Thao". thethao.vnexpress.net. Retrieved 2018-06-10.
- ↑ "Việt Nam lần đầu tiên vào Tứ kết Asian Cup". rfa.org. Retrieved 2018-06-10.
- ↑ "VFF - Khai màn bảng B, Việt Nam - UAE 2-0: Cú sốc đầu tiên tại Asian Cup 2007". vff.org.vn. Retrieved 2018-06-10.