* [INFOGRAPHIC] Vietnam's Road to 2018 AFF Cup Glory
* Vietnam win second AFF Cup trophy
The world’s football governing body opened the article by depicting the animated atmosphere in Hanoi on the night the “Golden Dragons” beat the “Malaysian Tigers” to take the top honour at the regional showpiece for the second time in history.
“Car horns, fireworks, national flags and football chants. It may sound like Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro or Rome but in fact it was Hanoi on Saturday night, as Vietnam’s capital celebrated the end to a decade-long wait for international silverware”.
FIFA showed its admiration for the burning passion for football among the Vietnamese fans in particular and the people across Southeast Asia as a whole. “Vietnam triumphed in dramatic fashion with a 3-2 aggregate scoreline against Malaysia, all in front of a raucous and colourful crowd at the My Dinh Stadium. It was a fitting finale to the AFF Cup, the biennial southeast showpiece, a tournament which rarely fails to deliver on or off the field”.
“The tournament truly captures the imagination of a region featuring well over half a billion inhabitants. The two-legged final drew some 130,000 spectators, highlighted by an 88,000 crowd at Kuala Lumpur’s famed Bukit Jalil stadium. The average crowd during the course of the five-week home-and-away ten-nation tournament was just shy of 30,000”.
FIFA did not forget to honour the Republic of Korean tactician, Park Hang-seo, by detailing what he has done for Vietnamese football after just over one year in charge.
“Victory highlights a period of unprecedented success for Vietnamese football. Coach Park Hang-seo led the nation to a recent semi-final appearance at the Asian Games, and the U-23 team to the AFC U-23 Asian Cup final”.
