Vietnam defeats Indonesia 2-1 in 2019 SEA Games

The Vietnamese national football team led by South Korean head coach Park Hang-seo has pulled off three consecutive wins in the 2019 U22 Southeast Asian Games (SEA), keeping a safe lead in Group B.

On Sunday (local time), Vietnam defeated Indonesia 2-1 in the third round of Group B competition, which was held at Rizal Memorial Stadium in the Philippines. Park’s team has secured the first place of Group B with nine points, keeping a three-point difference from second runner, Thailand. Vietnam also won massive victories against Brunei and Laos, by 6-0 and 6-1, respectively, last week.

“Today, we’ve shown the spirit of Vietnam. We conceded one goal in the first half but never ceased to fight to win” said Head Coach Park Hang-seo after the game. “That is what our spirit is all about. We never give up.”

The Vietnamese football team is aiming at winning their first championship of the SEA games since its inception in 1959. In fact, they had won the gold medal in 1959, but it was before South and North Vietnams were unified. Vietnam is scheduled to fight Singapore on Tuesday, before going head to head with Thailand on Thursday, Vietnam’s biggest rivals and the defending football champions of the SEA games.

The men’s football of the SEA Games 2019 chooses the champions through a cross tournament of the best four winnowed out from the two best teams from each group league from Group A (five teams) and Group B (six teams). Currently, Myanmar, with seven win points, and Cambodia ,four win points, are ranked as the first and second in Group A competition.


Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@donga.com