Vietnam wins thrilling victory over Australia in AFF Cup 2024 futsal semi-final

The match between Vietnam and Australia took place on the afternoon of November 8. On the FIFA rankings, Vietnam is ranked 34th, 15 places above Australia. Futsal in the kangaroo country has been on the decline since the 2016 World Cup, losing to Vietnam 0-2 in the 2019 AFF Cup, 1-5 in the 2022 AFF Cup and most recently 3-5 in a friendly match in late October 2024. However, the match at Terminal 21 Korat Stadium today saw Australia play and make better use of opportunities. Meanwhile, Vietnam was somewhat affected by the absence of captain Pham Duc Hoa - who broke his left arm in the final match of the group stage against Thailand.

In the first minute, Vietnam's goal was shaken when Nguyen Thinh Phat passed the ball to the wrong side of the left, allowing Wade Giovenali to steal the ball and then put it into the right corner, missing the post. In the 6th minute, Scott Rogan passed well to Tyler Garner, then put it into the left corner for Corey Sewell to tap into the empty net to open the score.

If Jordan Guerreiro had taken better advantage of the two face-offs with goalkeeper Pham Van Tu, the gap could have increased.

Vietnam then responded with shots from Thinh Phat and Nhan Gia Hung but could not beat goalkeeper Domenic Badolato. The team was also unlucky in the 11th minute, when Chau Doan Phat shot hard into the right corner, causing the Australian goalkeeper to push the ball against the post.

The last five minutes of the first half saw goalkeeper Van Tu working hard, including flying to block Jordan Guerreiro's volley. However, at the last minute, he was helpless against Rogan's shot, in a typical Australian cross-field move: a player kicked the ball up to the opposite wing and then ran to the second post waiting for a teammate to volley to finish close to the goal.

In the second half, Australia had more chances, but Guerreiro and Michael Kouta both missed in a one-on-one situation. From the 29th minute, Vietnam switched to power-play and were awarded a penalty a minute later, when Da Hai was fouled by captain Giovaneli in the penalty area. From the 6m mark, Tu Minh Quang shot with his left foot into the right corner to reduce the score to 1-2.

Receiving five fouls from the 32nd minute made both teams lose their intensity, to avoid the sixth foul leading to a 10m penalty. But this was also the time to witness an exciting score chase. In the 35th minute, Minh Quang passed the ball from the right into the penalty area for Da Hai to tap in close to tie the score at 2-2. However, in the next attack, Australia scored the third goal. Tran Nhat Trung scored an own goal after trying to block Guerreiro's pass.

Although their mentality seemed to be affected, Vietnam still calmly played power-play and once again tied the score at 3-3 in the 38th minute. Tu Minh Quang escaped to the right wing to cross for Da Hai to complete his double. With 20 seconds left, Nhan Gia Hung sneaked into the space and had a chance to face the goalkeeper, but his powerful shot went wide of the right post.

Tied 3-3 after 40 minutes, the two teams entered 10 minutes of extra time. With their spirits up, Vietnam accepted to play a risky power-play and put in good pressure. The chance came in the 43rd minute but Minh Quang's left-footed shot went straight towards goalkeeper Badolato and went wide of the left post. A minute later, Australia made their sixth mistake when Grant Lynch shot after the whistle, but Nhan Gia Hung's shot from 10m away was not dangerous enough to beat Badolato. Immediately after that, this fixo missed another chance with a shot that went wide of the left post. With 24 seconds left, Vietnam made a mistake in passing the ball back to the goalkeeper even though it had not crossed the home field, but Australia was still unable to take advantage of the indirect free kick.

In a stalemate, Vietnam unexpectedly scored a fourth goal eight seconds into the second extra time. From a long pass from home to the edge of the penalty area, Thinh Phat headed the ball back, and goalkeeper Badolato came out and missed, watching the ball roll into the net. But Vietnam could not preserve the score. In the 49th minute, Australia coordinated well for Lynch to tap in from close range to tie the score at 4-4.

The remaining time saw both teams have chances from the 10m penalty kick due to six fouls, but the results were opposite. On Australia's side, Rogan placed the ball low and hit the outside edge of the right post, while Thinh Phat finished with an accurate left foot shot to seal the dramatic 5-4 score.

Diego Giustozzi and his team will face the winner of the Thailand-Indonesia match in the final. The final will take place at 6pm on November 10 at Terminal 21 Korat.

This is the first time Vietnam has reached the final since 2012, but lost to Thailand 4-9. After that, except for 2016 when they did not participate, the team has stopped in the semi-finals eight times, losing to Australia 1-6 (2013), 3-4 (2014), Thailand 0-6 (2015), Malaysia 1-5 (2017), drawing Malaysia 2-2 but losing on penalties 4-5 (2018), Thailand 0-2 (2019), 1-3 (2022).

In the group stage this time, Vietnam defeated Timor Leste 4-1, Malaysia 2-0 and Brunei 14-0. In the final round, the team defeated Thailand for the second time in history (3-2) to top Group A. The victory over the host was a great encouragement for Vietnam, even though the opponent did not have the strongest squad.