Despite playing very hard, goalkeeper Dylan Niski still could not help Timor Leste avoid a heavy defeat against Vietnam in the opening match of ASEAN Cup 2026.
Coach Kim Sang-sik's team won 7-0, in which Dinh Bac scored a hat-trick, Do Hoang Hen scored a double, and Xuan Son and Quang Hai each scored 1 goal to close the overwhelming performance of the defending champion.
Right in the first half, the Vietnamese team created a 5-goal gap. In the second half, Timor Leste conceded 2 more goals. Although having to pick the ball out of the net 7 times, in fact goalkeeper Dylan Niski still had many saves, preventing the gap from becoming bigger.
This is not the first time Dylan Niski has experienced sad memories before Vietnamese football. In 2022, while still wearing the Australian futsal team jersey at the Southeast Asian Futsal Championship, the goalkeeper born in 2000 also faced the Vietnamese futsal team in the group stage.
In that match, the Vietnamese futsal team with many players who had just participated in the FIFA Futsal World Cup such as Ho Van Y, Pham Duc Hoa, Tran Thai Huy, Nguyen Thinh Phat and Nhan Gia Hung won 5-1. Thinh Phat scored a double, while Thai Huy, Doan Phat and Van Hieu scored 1 goal each.
After a period of playing futsal and 11-man football in parallel, Dylan Niski is completely focused on the big pitch. Currently, this goalkeeper is under contract with Western City FC of Australia.
Born in Sydney into a multi-ethnic family, Niski qualified to wear the jerseys of Australia, Poland, Portugal or Timor Leste. In the end, he chose to wear the jersey representing Southeast Asia at the national team level (11th floor).
In just two encounters with Vietnamese teams, Dylan Niski had to pick the ball out of the net a total of 12 times.
