Vietnam seized control of their AFF Suzuki Cup semi-final against Malaysia as a fine second-half strike by Nguyen Van Quyet earned them a come-from-behind 2-1 win in the first leg at Shah Alam Stadium on Sunday.
Malaysia took the lead through a Safiq Rahim penalty after 14 minutes but Vo Huy Toan netted a deserved equaliser in the 32nd minute after a fine counter-attack for the visitors.
Van Quyet then fired home the winner on the hour to give his side a precious advantage to take into the return match in Hanoi on Thursday.
The victory puts Vietnam firmly in the driving seat in the semi-final and coach Toshiya Miura was clearly delighted by his side’s resilient display.
“Playing here was very difficult as this stadium is massive and the Malaysia fans were strongly behind their players,” said the Japanese tactician.
“But I must congratulate my players for not panicking after conceding the goal although I felt that they would play better in the second half.”
Both teams had key players ruled out through suspension with captain Shukor Adan and forward Amri Yahyah missing for the home side and midfielder Vu Minh Tuan banned for Vietnam.
The visitors made a vibrant start and should have taken the lead after only five minutes when Le Cong Vinh fed an unmarked Ngo Hoang Thinh who curled the ball narrowly wide from the edge of the Malaysia box.
Malaysia struggled with the pace of the Vietnamese attack early on but they were presented with a wonderful opportunity to open the scoring in the 14th minute when the ball struck the arm of Nguyen Huy Hung and Chinese referee Ma Ning awarded a penalty.
Stand-in skipper Safiq, who netted a late penalty in Malaysia’s 3-1 win over Singapore during the group stage, was unerring from the spot once again as he sent goalkeeper Tran Nguyen Manh the wrong way to put his side ahead.
Malaysia goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat was called into action just two minutes later as he stopped an attempt by Cong Vinh at his near post and Vietnam had a penalty claim of their own turned down in the 31st minute after Muslim Ahmad appeared to handle the ball in his box.
However, their attacking endeavour would be rewarded as they equalised after a fine counter-attack just a minute later. Pham Thanh Luong’s through ball from the right flank released Van Quyet who drove into the box and fired a low angled drive that was parried by Khairul Fahmi. However, Huy Toan was following up and he got to the loose ball just ahead of the Malaysia goalkeeper to fire the ball into the unguarded net to make the score 1-1 at the interval.
Malaysia striker Safee Sali had few real opportunities but he should have done better in the 49th minute when he was allowed to tee up a shot on the left edge of the Vietnamese box but fired wastefully wide.
Thanh Luong was replaced in the 58th minute by Mac Hong Quan and the substitute took just two minutes to make an impact as he fed the ball to Van Quyet who cut inside Zubir Azmi on the right edge of the box before bending a shot around Khariul Azmi into the far corner.
Vietnam upped the pressure as torrential rain began to pour down and Muslim had to make a vital late challenge to block a shot by Cong VInh after he had been teed up by Hong Quan before Khairul Fahmi made a good stop to deny Hong Quan.
Huy Toan then came within inches of a second goal as he just failed to make contact with a cross from the right by Van Quyet.
For all of their possession in the second half, Malaysia rarely threatened an equaliser although they nearly levelled in stoppage time when Nguyen Manh had to tip over a dipping shot by Safee under challenge from Manaf Mamat before substitute Indra Putra Mahayuddin headed wide with the final opportunity of the game.
That miss means that Malaysia have much work to do in the return leg where they will need to score at least twice to avoid elimination.
Source: AFFSuzukiCup.com
