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Vietnam could only dominate the game in the first 10 minutes before giving possession to Lebanon. In the 12th minute, Abou Zeid got a clear chance to score but couldn’t get past keeper Ho Van Y. The 24-year-old has five more excellent saves until Vietnam got the first scoring chance in the 27th minute when Nguyen Minh Tri faced Lebanon’s keeper Hussein Hamadani but his shot was lack of accuracy.
Lebanon increased the pressure when some Vietnamese players were low on stamina. Abou Zeid almost scored in the 34th minute when his long-range shot hit the bar.
With a few minutes left, many have thought about the extra time. However, Chau Doan Phat in an individual attempt dribbled past a Lebanon player and sophisticatedly nutmeg keeper Hamadani to score for Vietnam in the 37th minute.
Lebanon immediately switched to power-play, which means they can replace the goalkeeper with an attacker to increase firepower until the ball is out of play. The tactical move brought Lebanon the equalizer after just 30 seconds by the substitution Ali Tneich. Lebanon kept using power-play in the remaining time of the game but couldn’t score more.
Vietnam, being the home team of the first leg, got an advantage when they didn’t concede. In the second leg, Vietnam are the away team and even if the result is a draw (with goals), they still win the playoffs due to away goal advantage. And the score 1-1 was enough for the team to get what they need.
This is the second time that Vietnam qualify for a Futsal World Cup tournament, with the first being 2016.
In the other second-leg playoff, Thailand won 4-0 against Iraq. The aggregate score of two legs is 11-2. Besides Vietnam and Thailand, Japan, Iran and Uzbekistan are the other teams in Asia to qualify for the Futsal World Cup.
The Futsal World Cup 2021 will be held in Lithuania from September 12 to October 3.
