U22 Vietnam won the gold medal at the 33rd SEA Games after a dramatic final match at Rajamangala Stadium after defeating U22 Thailand with a score of 3-2. With a 2-goal lead in the first half and a dominating game, it seemed that U22 Vietnam had missed out on the 33rd SEA Games gold medal, but everything completely changed direction in the second half.
Coach Kim Sang-sik's team consecutively scored 2 goals by Dinh Bac and an own goal by the Thai U22 defender to equalize the score 2-2. Thereby, the final match was reduced to 2 extra halves to determine the winner.
And in the first extra time, striker Nguyen Thanh Nhan was a shining name with the goal to increase the score to 3-2 for U22 Vietnam. That was a situation where this striker chose a reasonable position to rush in to finish close to the goal after Van Thuan's shot, bringing a "same as a golden" goal for U22 Vietnam. This was also the goal that sealed the 3-2 overall victory for coach Kim Sang-sik's team.
This is not the first time striker Nguyen Thanh Nhan has scored a "golden goal" for Vietnamese football. The last time the striker from Tay Ninh scored an important goal was in the 2026 U23 Asian Qualifiers against U23 Yemen, thereby helping U23 Vietnam win a ticket to the finals.
That was the match that decided the ticket to the next round for U23 Vietnam and U23 Yemen when both teams had 6 points and competed for the top spot in Group C of the 2026 U23 Asian qualifiers.
Thanh Nhan was the author of the only goal of the match in the 70th minute with a decisive shot, thereby helping U23 Vietnam win all 3 matches and win a ticket to the 2026 AFC U23 Championship Finals.
Most recently, also in the semi-final match of the 33rd SEA Games against U22 Philippines, when sent onto the field from the bench, Thanh Nhan also immediately left his mark with a goal to seal a 2-0 victory for U22 Vietnam.
It was an extremely dangerous free kick to defeat the U22 Philippines goalkeeper, bringing home a ticket to the 33rd SEA Games final, and the rest was the history of U22 Vietnam as well as Thanh Nhan personally.
