Vietnam failed to create any dangerous attacks in the first half and were led from the 32nd minute as Ali Salmeen scored from a long pass.
Before the first half ended, Ali Mabkhout scored the second goal from the penalty shot for the UAE, after Vietnamese keeper Bui Tan Truong was determined to have fouled Abdullah Al-Naqbi as he tried to blocked a shot.
Vietnam made several changes in the second half to improve their offense, but a lack of focus in the defense cost them one more goal from Al Hammadi's header.
Yet further changes in the offense worked out for Vietnam in the last minutes of the game. Tran Minh Vuong who entered the field in the 60th minute assisted one goal by Nguyen Tien Linh in the 84th minute and scored his own during the extra minutes of the game, shortening the score to 2-3.
Despite the loss, Vietnam still end up one of the five best second-placed teams in the second round of the World Cup Asian qualifiers and thus earn a ticket to the final round, for the first time in history.