AFC compares Vietnam team's victory with Malaysia and Thailand

(Dan Tri) - The Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFC) made a notable comment after the victories of Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand in the fourth round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers on the evening of October 14.

"An early own goal brought a 1-0 victory for Vietnam against Nepal in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers," the AFC homepage commented after coach Kim Sang Sik's team's narrow victory in the rematch with Nepal at Thong Nhat Stadium (HCMC) on the evening of October 14.

The match was delayed for 30 minutes due to heavy rain, which made the pitch muddy and difficult for both teams. However, Vietnam won with the only goal, when Hieu Minh's header caused a Nepalese defender to fumble and score an own goal.

The Vietnamese team celebrates after a 1-0 victory in the rematch with Nepal at Thong Nhat Stadium (Photo: Nam Anh).

"Vietnam took the lead just five minutes into the match when defender Suman Shrestha was under heavy pressure and scored an own goal.

The home team, who beat the South Asian side 3-1 on October 9, tried their best to find a second goal but had to accept a slim advantage before the break.

Coach Kim Sang Sik made four substitutions in the second half to bolster his side’s attack, but they failed to shine. However, that did not matter as Vietnam earned points to keep pace with leaders Malaysia.

This victory helps Vietnam get 9 points, 3 points behind the top team Malaysia while Nepal is still at the bottom of the table after losing all 4 matches," AFC commented in the article.

Meanwhile, talking about Malaysia's victory over Laos, AFC said that the "Malayan Tigers" had an impressive "revival" when they came from behind to defeat their opponents with a score of 5-1 despite conceding the first goal.

Malaysia came from behind to defeat Laos 5-1 (Photo: AFC).

"Laos led 1-0 during the first half but striker Romel Morales led Malaysia to a revival with a double in the second half to come from behind to win 5-1," AFC emphasized.

Meanwhile, talking about Thailand's victory over Taiwan (China), AFC said that the "War Elephants" have a good chance of qualifying for the 2027 Asian Cup finals after scoring 6 goals against their opponents.

The Thai team also had a resounding 6-1 victory over Taiwan (China) (Photo: FAT).

"Teerasak Poeiphimai shone with a hat-trick to help Thailand win 6-1 against Taiwan in the fourth round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. This victory helps Thailand maintain hope of qualifying for the next round when the Southeast Asian team has 9 points after 4 matches," AFC commented.

However, in the match of group D a few hours later, the Turkmenistan team defeated Sri Lanka with a score of 2-1 to regain the top spot from Thailand (both had 9 points but had a better head-to-head record).

Thus, after the 4th round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, the Malaysian team is the only Southeast Asian team to win all 4 matches, scoring 14 goals and conceding only 1 goal.

However, this team is still in the appeal period after FIFA's penalty on September 26 related to player naturalization fraud and is at risk of receiving further penalties from AFC.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/afc-so-sanh-chien-thang-cua-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-voi-malaysia-va-thai-lan-20251015000832724.htm