Hai Long was chosen as the best player in the match against Malaysia.

Midfielder Hai Long. (Photo: Hien Nguyen/Vietnam+)

Midfielder Nguyen Hai Long was voted the best player in the match where U23 Vietnam won U23 Malaysia 2-0 even though he did not directly score a goal, which surprised Hai Long himself.

In a hot interview after the match, Hai Long said he was quite surprised to be chosen as the best player of the match because many teammates played better.

He said: "I want to dedicate this victory to the fans who traveled from Vietnam to Uzbekistan to cheer, as well as millions of fans across the country. We will try our best not to disappoint them in the upcoming matches.

The past period has been really difficult because I rarely played. Today, Coach Gong placed me in the starting lineup, so I tried my best to repay the Coach's trust and have a starting position in the next matches."

In the last match, Nham Manh Dung and Bui Hoang Viet Anh were the ones who scored the winning goals for U23 Vietnam.

Although Hai Long did not score directly, he was still chosen as the best player of the match. This is the second time at the 2022 AFC U23 Championship that a player of U23 Vietnam has received the title of best player of the match. Previously, it was Khuat Van Khang.

After defeating U23 Malaysia 2-0, finishing second in Group C and qualifying for the quarter-finals, Coach Gong Oh-kyun and his team have 3 days off before competing in the knockout round. In the immediate future, the whole team will watch the final match of Group D taking place today, June 9, to know who their opponents are in the quarter-finals.

Also related to the above victory, U23 Vietnam received a "hot" bonus of 600 million VND from the Vietnam Football Federation.

In total, up to now, U23 Vietnam has been awarded 1.3 billion VND by VFF (300 million for the 2-2 draw with Thailand, 400 million for the 1-1 draw with Korea and 600 million for reaching the quarter-finals of the Asian tournament).

According to U23 Vietnam Head Coach Gong Oh-kyun, no one thought U23 Vietnam could make it to the quarter-finals.

He said, “U23 Vietnam has had its first victory and entered the quarter-finals. Before this tournament, no one thought we would be able to do that. I am impressed with my players. I did nothing, the credit goes to the players. The doctor helped the team a lot.”

According to VNA