Repeat the bitter script

Vietnam 2-3 Iraq

On the evening of January 24, the Vietnamese team suffered a 2-3 defeat against Iraq. This was a regrettable result because coach Philippe Troussier and his team thought they had earned a point when they equalized 2-2 in the first minute of extra time in the second half. In the final seconds, Iraq was awarded a penalty and Aymen Hussein successfully took advantage to score the final goal, making the score 3-2.

Once again, the Vietnamese team was disappointed by Iraq because of a last-minute goal. The West Asian team brought sadness to Vietnamese fans and players a total of 4 times in this way.

In 2015, in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, the Vietnamese team led 1-0 against Iraq thanks to a goal by Le Cong Vinh. However, Younis Mahmoud snatched a point for the visitors with a goal in the 7th minute of injury time of the second half.

The second match in which Vietnam conceded a goal in the final minutes against Iraq was the clash in the group stage of the 2019 Asian Cup. Ali Adnan created a masterpiece of a free kick in the 90th minute to seal a 3-2 victory for Iraq.

The third time the two teams decided the winner in the final minutes was the match at My Dinh Stadium last November, in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia. Mohanad Ali headed the ball close to the goal to bring a 1-0 victory for the West Asian team.

Aymen Hussein scored the winning goal for Iraq.

Historically, the Vietnamese team has met Iraq 6 times. The Southeast Asian representative drew 1 and lost 5. Next June, the Vietnamese team will meet Iraq again in the second round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

In addition to the three unfortunate goals conceded at the end of the second half, the Vietnamese team also lost once in the extra time of the first half when facing Iraq. That was the second leg of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers away from home. The Vietnamese team defended well but still conceded a goal near the break.

The Vietnamese team was eliminated after the group stage of the 2023 Asian Cup. Coach Philippe Troussier and his team lost all 3 matches, scoring 4 goals and conceding 8. The players who scored for the Vietnamese team were Nguyen Dinh Bac, Pham Tuan Hai, Bui Hoang Viet Anh and Nguyen Quang Hai.

This is the first time the Vietnamese team has failed to advance past the group stage of the Asian Cup. In the two previous tournaments in 2007 and 2019, the Vietnamese team reached the quarter-finals.

Currently, Thailand is the only representative of Southeast Asian football that is certain to advance to the next round with one match left to play. The Indonesian team is ranked third in Group D, and must wait for the results of Groups E and F. The Malaysian team, like Vietnam, was eliminated early after losing to Jordan and Bahrain.