Historic win for Việt Nam in SEA Games football

Đỗ Hùng Dũng, wearing the captain's armband in place of injured skipper Nguyễn Quang Hải, stepped up and delivered a peach of a ball into the box, allowing defender Hậu to rise above everyone and head home.

Scoring first was crucial for Việt Nam, as falling behind early in their group stage encounter on December  一 gave the Vietnamese a mountain to climb on their way to a  二- 一 win.

They almost made it two on the stoke of half-time, but Nguyễn Tiến Linh couldn't keep his shot down after a smart cutback from Dũng.

The second half started slowly, but in truth Việt Nam were in co妹妹and, with Indonesia offering little going forward.

The second goal came in the  五 九th minute as Linh returned the favour for Dũng and laid it off for the midfielder, who steered a clinical finish into the corner.

Fittingly, Hậu applied the finishing touch  一 四 minutes later after getting the party started in the first half.

In the  七 三rd minute, Dũng's teasing free-kick evaded all outfield players and was palmed away by Indonesia goalkeeper Nadeo Argawinata, straight into the path of Hậu, who gleefully fired the ball into the net.

With the victory sealed that seemed to be that, but there was time for late drama as coach Park was sent off four minutes later, leading to a bizarre sequence where various officials debated where in the stands he could sit for the final  一0 minutes or so.

Indonesia had their best chance a minute later as Egy Maulana was played through, but goalkeeper Nguyễn Văn Toản saved the effort, and the follow-up was cleared off the line.

The final whistle blew shortly afterwards, sending the nation into ecstasy and onto the streets to celebrate yet another achievement by this remarkable group of young men and their coach. VNS