Thailand is not a promised land for Vietnamese football

Due to the recent emergency natural disaster situation in southern Thailand, the men's football event of SEA Games 33 will be relocated from Songkhla to Bangkok.

At the 2008 ASEAN Cup (then known as the AFF Suzuki Cup), Group B was held in Phuket (also in southern Thailand), and the Vietnamese national team started poorly, losing 0-2 to the hosts. However, the outcome of that tournament was favorable, as we even secured a 2-1 victory at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok during the first leg of the final on Christmas night, before winning the championship for the first time in history at My Dinh Stadium.

Vietnamese football history has gone through many phases, with both victories and defeats in Thailand, but in men's SEA Games football, we have never yet opened the gold medal account in the land of smiles.

To recall, at the 1995 SEA Games in Chiang Mai (Thailand), the entire country was excited when Tran Minh Chien scored the golden goal against Myanmar in the semifinals, bringing Vietnamese football close to the gold medal for the first time since reintegration. However, very few believed we could win gold because the opponent of the "golden generation" of Vietnamese football in the final was far superior. The result was that coach Karl Heinz Weigang’s team lost 0-4 to the host and accepted second place.

"Even now, 30 years later, recalling that moment still gives me goosebumps. The happiness was indescribable. I think our generation at that time was the closest to Thailand’s level. Proof is that only three years later, at the 1998 Tiger Cup (the former name of the ASEAN Cup), this generation along with a few additions defeated Thailand 3-0 in the semifinals. But—and this is important—we had to wait 10 more years, until the 2008 ASEAN Cup, to beat them for the second time. Youth football has some differences in explosiveness and boldness, but we still need to respect Thailand, despite having won two SEA Games gold medals in recent years," former star Tran Minh Chien recalled.

After retiring quite early, Tran Minh Chien also started coaching early and gained very practical insights. The former Ho Chi Minh City Police and national team star was right when he said that just one year before Vietnamese football overcame Thailand for the second time (in 2008), the Vietnamese youth team, the U23 squad, suffered a heavy defeat at the 2007 SEA Games in Korat. That generation, including Cong Vinh, Tan Tai, Vu Phong, Thanh Binh, and others, became Southeast Asian champions a year later.