At the final of the 2024 Southeast Asian futsal tournament taking place on the evening of November 10, the Vietnamese futsal team lost 0-2 to the Indonesian futsal team, thereby winning the runner-up position of the tournament.
Nguyen Thinh Phat and his teammates have yet to win the championship for the first time, while Indonesia has won the AFF Futsal Cup for the second time (after 2010).
In reality, the Vietnamese futsal team did not play as well as Indonesia. Thinh Phat, Doan Phat and Ngoc Anh could only blame themselves for missing so many dangerous opportunities and the opponent's goalkeeper also had an excellent day.
However, looking more broadly, the journey of the Vietnam futsal team at the AFF Futsal Cup 2024 opens up hope for a promising generation of players. Head coach Diego Giustozzi used a squad with many new, young players such as: Dinh Cong Vien, Nhan Gia Hung (2002), Huynh Mi Weon (2000), Nguyen Da Hai (2005) or Vu Ngoc Anh (2004). Even veteran goalkeeper Ho Van Y was a substitute for Van Tu for most of the match.
After the Vietnam futsal team failed to qualify for the 2024 World Cup, Mr. Giustozzi applied a strategy of rejuvenating the squad to prepare for future goals. However, another defeat against Indonesia still upset fans. Before that, the Vietnamese national teams had 4 other defeats against the team from the archipelago country in many different fronts.
The first was the defeat of the Vietnam National Team against Indonesia in the group stage of the 2023 Asian Cup (taking place in January 2024) under coach Troussier. The obvious shirt-pulling of center-back Nguyen Thanh Binh with Rafael Struick in the penalty area helped Indonesia get a penalty. Mangkualam Asnawi successfully took the 11m kick and that was also the only goal that helped the opponent defeat the "Golden Star Warriors".
In March 2024, the Vietnam team continued to face Indonesia in the second qualifying round of the 2024 World Cup. In the away match at Gelora Bung Karno, Quang Hai and his teammates once again lost 0-1 to the opponent. At that time, fans were still expecting a "sweet response" from the Vietnam team when welcoming the team from the archipelago country at My Dinh Stadium in the second leg.
However, disappointment piled up when Mr. Troussier's students lost 0-3 at home, thereby officially stopping in this round. The French coach himself also left the "hot seat" after a series of bad matches of the Vietnam team.
In addition to the national team, U16 Vietnam lost 0-5 to U16 Indonesia in the third-place match at the 2024 Southeast Asian U16 Championship. Even after the match, head coach Tran Minh Chien at that time emphasized that he had never expected this result. Basic mistakes and lack of concentration made U16 Vietnam pay the price.
It is worth mentioning that this is the second time that U16 Vietnam has lost to U16 Indonesia. Previously, at the final of the U16 Southeast Asian Championship 2 years ago, Cong Phuong's players also "collapsed" before their opponents in the final match for the championship.
From now until the end of the year, the Vietnam team still has one match against the Indonesian team in the group stage of the AFF Cup 2024 at home, taking place on December 15. A victory against the team from the archipelago will help the Vietnam team as well as new coach Kim Sang-sik restore the trust of fans. At the same time, the result of this match will largely decide the ticket to the next round and determine the opponent in the knockout round.
