US, Netherlands embassies win kudos for humorous World Cup exchange

The exchange was applauded by Vietnamese fans.

Before the match, the US Embassy in Hanoi uploaded a photo inspired by the famous 2019 Vietnamese movie called "Mat Biec" (Dreamy Eyes). The movie revolves around two main characters Ha Lan (which can roughly be translated to Holland or Netherlands) and her love interest Ngan. At the end of the movie, the two part ways.

Screenshot of the posts of Netherlands and US Embassy in Hanoi.

"Call the U.S. national team Ngan because, in the end, we would also leave Ha Lan (Netherlands) behind to move on," the meme said.

The Netherlands Embassy responded with another photo, saying: "If I were Ha Lan, I wouldn’t choose Ngan, I would choose to advance to the quarterfinals."

Both posts received thousands of reactions, comments and shares, with many complimenting the sense of humor that created fun content for fans.

"The admin of this page has a great sense of humor," Nhat Nguyen commented on the Netherlands embassy’s post.

"Admin living his best life with this post," was the reaction elicited from Ngo Huyen by the US embassy’s post.

Cameron Thomas-Shah, spokesperson of the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi told VnExpress International: "From education to sports, we love connecting with the public and bringing people together. Even the jokes exchanged with the Netherlands and England, showed how soccer brings people together."

"Freedom of expression and unity are increasingly important in our society, so we are happy that the public -- especially younger audiences joined in the fun," he said.

The Netherlands eventually won the match 3-1 with goals from Memphis Depay, Daley Blind and Denzel Dumfries. The U.S.’s lone scorer was Haji Wright.