HANOI (9 January 2023) – A double from striker Nguyen Tien Linh was enough to drive Vietnam to the Finals of the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2022 after beating Indonesia 2-0 in the second leg, semifinal 1 that was played this evening at the My Dinh Stadium.
With the score tied scoreless in the first leg in Jakarta a few days ago, two-time champions Vietnam confirmed their passage to the Finals on a 2-0 aggregate.
It was Vietnam’s second Finals since 2018.
”We have not beaten Indonesia in 26 years in this biennial championship. So I told the players that we needed to break this record,” said Vietnam head coach Park Hang-seo afterwards.
It took Vietnam only three minutes to grab the opening goal when Tien Linh picked up the long ball in from captain Do Hung Dung to run in between markers Jordi Amat and Rizky Ridho before firing past Indonesia keeper Nadeo Argawinata.
In spite of bringing in Saddil Ramdani in place of Rachmat Irianto at the centre of the park, Indonesia just could not find their way through to the last quarter as Vietnam fended off their challenge for much of the first half.
And just like it was in the first, Tien Linh struck the second goal just two minutes after the restart when he made good on the corner from Hung Dung to head the ball in and give Vietnam the well-deserved win at home.
“We still have a lot of work to do for Indonesian football. I feel very sorry for the result tonight and I want to apologise to the Indonesian fans,” said Indonesia head coach Shin Tae-yong.
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