World Cup qualifiers: Vietnam suffer 1-3 loss to Saudi Arabia despite early surprise

By Staff reporters       SEP. 3, 2021

Vietnam scored in the 3rd minute but were defeated eventually after playing most of the second half with one man down.

  • 90'+5
    Time's up

    Vietnam suffer a 1-3 defeat on Saudi Arabia's ground after playing with 10 men for most of the second half.

  • 90'

    Five minutes are added to the second half.

  • 84'

    Nguyen Quang Hai is subbed out for Nguyen Van Toan.

  • 79'
    Saudi Arabia score the third goal

    Saleh Al-Shehri calmly scores a Panenka-style penalty to make it 3-1 for Saudi Arabia.

  • 79'

    Que Ngoc Hai makes a wrong tackle inside the box and the referee gives another penalty to Saudi Arabia.

  • 67'
    Saudi Arabia score the second goal

    A cross from the right flank finds Yasir Al-Shahrani's head and he scores for Saudi Arabia.

  • 61'

    Keeper Truong makes another save for Vietnam.

  • Saudi-7434-1630611804.jpg

    Al-Dawsari takes the penalty shot to equalize for Saudi Arabia.

  • 56'

    Vietnam strengthen the defense by subbing Tran Dinh Trong in for Nguyen Tuan Anh.

  • 55'

    Vietnam are down to 10 men after Duy Manh's second yellow card.

This is Vietnam's first time in the final round of World Cup qualifiers, while Saudi Arabia have been playing at the World Cup five times before.

Both teams have shown impressive performances in the second qualifying round. Vietnam won five, drew two and only lost one game, peaked second in their group and advanced. With six victories and two draws, Saudi Arabia went into the final round as the leader of their group.

The most recent encounters between Vietnam and Saudi Arabia were in the World Cup 2002 qualifiers. Vietnam lost 0-4 in the first leg and 0-5 in the second. However, 19 years later, the gap in levels between the two teams has been shortened.

Besides playing on Saudi Arabia's home ground, Vietnam faced another disadvantage, missing some key players due to injuries.

 
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