Park Hang-seo’s side were held to an away goalless draw by the Indonesians at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium three days ago, which meant a home-field victory would be a must for Vietnam to advance to the final match.
Given that fact, the Golden Star Warriors entered the Monday clash with strong determination and produced an overwhleming game against Shin Tae-yong’s troops, during which Tien Linh was the hero netting a brace to fire Vietnam into the final with an aggregate 2-0 triumph.
It took the hosts only three minutes to go ahead as the two teams met at My Dinh tonight, with Tien Linh taking a long pass from Hung Dung before shooting past Indonesian goalkeeper Nadeo Argawinata.
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Vietnam's forward Nguyen Tien Linh in action during the match. (Photo: NDO/Tran Hai) |
The early opener gave a strong boost to the Vietnamese players’ confidence, inspiring to create several more opportunities in the following minutes. However, none of them was successfully converted, making the 1-0 score unchanged into halftime.
After the break, Vietnam continued to dominate the match and needed just two minutes to double their advantage. From Hung Dung’s left-wing cornerkick, Tien Linh completed his double by jumping hight to blast an unstoppage header toward the far corner.
The goal took the Vietnamese forward to the top of the AFF Cup 2022 scoring tally with five, equal to that of Thailand’s Teerasil Dangda.
With time running out, Park’s side could have further widened the gap but attempts by Tuan Hai and Quang Hai were denied by the Indonesian goalkeeper.
Despite no more goals were scored in the remainder of the match, the convincing 2-0 victory was enough to lift Vietnam to the January 13 title decider where they will meet either Thailand or Malaysia.
