Returning To Singapore, Vietnam Advances To The 2024 AFF Cup Final

Illustration - Vietnam (red) when facing Indonesia in the 2024 AFF Cup at the Viet Tri Stadium, Phu Tho, Vietnam, Sunday (15/12/2024). (ANTARA PHOTO/HO-Humas PSSI/foc)

The Vietnam national team confirmed their first place in the 2024 AFF Cup final after defeating the Singapore national team again with a score of 3-1 in the second leg semifinal match at the Viet Tri Stadium, Vietnam, Sunday night WIB.

Singapore, which fell behind in the first leg with a score of 0-2, appeared attacking from the early minutes of the match. Coach Tsutomu Ogura's son almost opened the scoring in the 14th minute through Faris Ramli's header which went into the Vietnam goal which was guarded by goalkeeper D. Nguyen.

However, the referee from Uzbekistan Rustam Lutfullin, who led the match, canceled the goal after examining VAR and deciding a foul in the form of an offside.

Meanwhile, Vietnam, which relied on Xuan Son on the front lines, also played attacking to create several chances but had not yet resulted in a goal.

Kim Sang-sik's team also almost took the lead through Ngoc Qujiang Chau's header which went into the Singapore goal in the 20th minute. However, the referee again canceled the goal due to a foul on Singaporeans.

The hosts finally broke the deadlock through Xuan Son's goal in the 45+1 minute after the referee awarded a penalty for a foul by Singapore defender Lionel Tan.

Xuan Son executed the penalty perfectly to bring the advantage to Vietnam until the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.

Entering the second half, Singapore, which dominated possession in the first half, returned to attack to catch up with the score.

However, the Singapore goal that was guarded by I. Mahbud justeru was again scored through Xuan Son's second goal in the 63rd minute which increased the advantage to 2-0.

Singapore only reduced the defeat to 1-2 through Kyoga Nakamura's goal in the 74th minute. The visitors continued the attack, as did Vietnam, who did not choose to stay in the last few minutes of the second half.

When the match entered extra time, Vietnam again strengthened the advantage through Nguyen Tien Lin's goal in the 90+3 minute from the penalty spot, which changed the score to 3-1 until the end of the match.

With this result, Vietnam wiped out the away and home match victory with a total aggregate score of 5-1 over Singapore, entitled to first place in the 2024 AFF Cup final. Against Vietnam in the final match will be determined from the results of the Thailand semifinal match against the Philippines which will take place on Monday (30/12).