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| The Vietnamese under-22 men's football team throw their flower bouquets while they celebrate their first SEA Games gold medal. Jan Dayrit |
PASAY—Vietnam just solidified its status as the best Southeast Asian football nation right now with its first ever gold medal in the SEA Games.
Vietnam finally won arguably the biennial meet's biggest prize after drubbing Indonesia, 3-0, in the championship match in front of about 11,000 people at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila on Tuesday night.
Doan Van Hau put Vietnam in front with a 39th minute goal off a free kick, while Do Hung Dung added another goal in the 59th minute. Doan completed his brace with a 73rd minute goal that turned out to be the dagger too.
The match, however, saw Referee Majed Al-Shamrani flashing a red card to Vietnam coach Park Hang-Seo for continuous complaining, but that hardly mattered and his team even gave him a victory ride after the win, which ended Vietnam's 60-year drought for a SEA Games men's football gold.
In the first match, Myanmar prevailed over Cambodia for the bronze medal after surviving a penalty shootout.
The regulation ended with both teams scoring two goals each, but Myanmar went 5-for-5 in its penalties.
Cambodia, which was 4-of-4 entering the fifth round, actually had a chance to extend the shootout, but Keo Sokpheng, who forced the shootout with a 71st minute goal to knot things up at 2-all, had his spot kick saved.
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