Vietnamese club in first AFC futsal championship final

By Thang Nguyen   August 11, 2018 | 08:18 am PT
Vietnamese club in first AFC futsal championship final
Thai Son Nam players in a Vietnamese futsal championship in 2017. Photo by VnExpress/Tam Nhat
The Thai Son Nam club defeated Bank of Beirut on Saturday to make their first ever AFC futsal final.

Thai Son Nam is Vietnam’s representative in this year’s Asian Football Federation (AFC) – Futsal Championship.

This is the third time the team has competed in the semifinal of the tournament, and the first time to make it through to the final.

Thai Son Nam's opponent in the final will be another first-time finalist, Mes Sungun, an Iranian club regarded as the “dark horse” this year.

Despite their humble track record, this team has made impressive performance throughout the tournament. They defeated Iraq's Naft Al-Wasat, who had beaten the Vietnamese club 4-3 earlier.

The Vietnamese team also put in an impressive semifinal perfomance coming back from two goals down.

Once the Lebanese team scored at the beginning of the match, they adopted defensive tactics. At one point, Bank Of Beirut’s ball possession rate was up to 80 percent.

A sudden counter attack by the Vietnamese team saw Vu Quoc Hung collect the ball from the left wing and score a goal. He also scored the equalizer in the 29th minute, raising the Vietnamese team’s hopes and recharged the players. Thai Son Nam was leading 4-3 with just five minutes to go.

In a flurry, four goals were scored in the last three minutes, two for each team. While the Vietnamese team took advantage of their opponent’s mistakes, the latter got their goals through free kicks.

Thai Son Nam has become the first Vietnamese futsal club to enter the finals in an Asian regional tournament.

The final match takes place at 6 p.m on Sunday, August 12.

The AFC Futsal Club Championship is widely regarded as the most prestigious tournament for futsal clubs. The first tournament was held in 2010. This year’s event is being held from August 1-12 in Indonesia.

The leading futsal team in the country, Thai Son Nam has entered three semi-finals in the last four years, including this year. It was a third place winner in the 2015 and 2017 editions of the AFC tournament.

 
 
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