Indonesia head coach blames referee for defeat against Vietnam

By Lam Thoa June 7, 2021 | 03:06 pm PT

Indonesia head coach Shin Tae-yong speaks at a post-match interview on June 8, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Lam Thoa.

Coach Shin Tae-yong claimed that the referee's mistakes is the reason why Indonesia lost 0-4 against Vietnam on Monday night.

"Before the game, I said the chance is for both teams to take and I still think it’s true until the second half. But then the tempo of the game changed too fast. I have never seen anything quite like it," Shin said.

According to Shin, the referee was a factor that created this rapid change of tempo.

"We conceded the first goal after losing the ball. But the second one came from a mistake of the referee. There was foul but he didn’t execute it right. He made Indonesia play out of tune and changed the game in a way that we don’t want," he added.

Indonesia entered the game with confidence after drawing Thailand last week. But when facing Vietnam, they didn’t have many chances. They could only keep the clean sheet until the 51st minute, then conceded four goals from Nguyen Tien Linh, Nguyen Quang Hai, Nguyen Cong Phuong and Vu Van Thanh.

"I didn't expect a result like this. We lost today, but we have played with 100 percent of our power. Congratulations to Park Hang-seo and Vietnam for the victory," Shin said.

Ahmad Al Ali from Kuwait refereed the game, which was played at Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai, the UAE, at 8:45 p.m. (local time), or 11:45 p.m. (Hanoi time).

In this game, Indonesia received six yellow cards, of which five were for the players and one for Shin. The match was constantly paused because of the violent tackles from Indonesia players. However, Shin denied directing the players to play like that.

"It's not our intention to put violence into play. In the SEA Games 2019 final, Indonesia lost to Vietnam and my players don't want it to happen again, so they started the game with high determination and maybe that’s why they played tougher than usual. I think it’s good to have such fighting spirit. We will try to play better in the next game."

Vietnam's coach Park Hang-seo said Indonesia tended to foul but he refused to comment further on that or the referee's decisions.

After the victory over Indonesia, Vietnam continue to top group G with 14 points. They need four more points in the last two games with Malaysia and UAE to secure a place in the final qualifying round of World Cup.