Steven Danis
Women’s Football Correspondent
Vietnam met the hosts and 2019 Women’s World Cup participant Thailand in Chonburi for the final game of the AFF Women’s Championship. Playing as the underdog, Huynh Nhu and her colleagues surprisingly won 1-0 against Chabakaew and were crowned as the SEA queens for the third time.
This game was already predicted by Indonesia WNT coach, Rully Nere, before Garuda Pertiwi kicked-off their last game of the group against Cambodia. “I predict that Thailand will meet Vietnam in the final because technically both are the best, they also develop the women’s game better than any other nations in SEA.”
Rully’s words came true on Tuesday. Vietnam went through to the final after finishing as Group B champions, winning all of their games and scored 21 goals without conceding any. Meanwhile, Thailand had a more complex route to the final having to face a five-nation Group A, but they also won all of their games, scoring 28 goals but conceding 2.
In the semi-final, Vietnam beat the Philippines 2-1 as both had a little reunion as fellow AFC Women’s Asian Cup contenders back in 2018, while Thailand won 3-1 against Myanmar, who still enjoyed the tournament until the final day as Yee Yee Oo become the tournament topscorer with 8 goals.
During the final, from the first whistle, Thailand pushed forward with Nildhamrong Suchawadee switching from flank to flank as she was given a free role to hassle the Vietnam backline while they were looking for space for the counter-attack. Nild had a chance on the 23rd minutes but was closed down by two recovering defenders. Six minutes later, her pass set up Intamee Silawan but unfortunately, the latter’s shot went wide.
The second half continued to be a string of near-misses for both teams as Vietnam were not risking too much while they continued to frustrate Thailand by keeping it close at the back. A fabulous 70th-minute freekick from Silawan Intamee forced Vietnam keeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh into a diving save just a few minutes later, and Thongsombut’s rising shot narrowly missed the upright. But there’s no goal until the full-time whistle blown.
With the game into extra time, a momentary lapse in the Thai backline in the 95th minute allowed Huynh Nhu to pick up the playback from Nguyen Thi Van before unleashing a crisp low shot past keeper Sengyong Yada for the lead. But unfortunately, the scorer, the captain, and the heroine, Huynh Nhu, was ejected from the match for picking up her second yellow card for taking off her shirt to celebrate her goal. Vietnam had to defend well and hard for the rest of the game as their coach Mai Duc Chung described the game as a difficult one.
Ultimately, Vietnam were able to see out the victory and beat Thailand on home soil to claim the trophy.