Hanoi (VNA) – Fox Sports Asiafootball editor Gabriel Tan has expressed his belief in the bright future ofthe Vietnamese football team despite their exit from the quarter-final againstJapan at the ongoing AFC Asian Cup 2019 in the United Arab Emirates.

In his article titled “Vietnam show how far theyhave come at AFC Asian Cup 2019”, Tan talked about a youthful generation withmaturity beyond their years.
On January 24 evening,Vietnam’s Asian Cup dream came to an end with a narrow 1-0 defeat tocontinental giants Japan, which only came courtesy of a VAR (Video AssistantReferee)-assisted penalty that was converted by Ritsu Doan.

“Sure, on the balance of play, Japan were probablya couple of tiers superior to the Vietnamese, with the suspicion that theycould have gone up a few gears had it been necessary,” Tan said.

“But, on the scoreboard, the only differencebetween a side that has played at the past six FIFA World Cups and one that wasonly appearing at the Asian Cup for the second time (excluding theirparticipation as South Vietnam in 1956 and 1960) was a solitary spot-kick,” headded.

Granted, there was a touch of fortune in the wayVietnam reached the Round of 16 as the fourth and final third-placed team, pippingLebanon only by virtue of a superior disciplinary record.

Nonetheless, the Vietnamese deserve credit foreven being in a position to challenge having been drawn in a tough group alsoconsisting of hot favourites Iran, 2007 winners Iraq and Yemen, Tan said.

In the first game against Iraq, the Golden Starstwice took the lead before losing by Ali Adnan’s last-gasp freekick, which wasfollowed by a creditable 2-0 defeat to Iranian rivals.

Then came the one Group C match they wereexpected to win and they duly got the job done by defeating Yemen 2-0.

In the Round of 16, they found themselves upagainst the surprise package of the tournament in Jordan, who – in contrast –been the first team to book their knockout round berth after upset victoriesover Australia and Syria.

Again, Vietnam belied the odds and took the gameto Jordanian rivals, eventually prevailing 4-2 in the penalty shootoutfollowing a 1-1 draw.

In the quarter-final against Japan, Vietnam hadproved themselves to be a hard-to-defeat team.

“Which brings us to the glamour tie against Japan, who are yet to fire on allcylinders at the tournament but, with established Europe-based stars like MayaYoshida, Yuya Osako and Yuto Nagatomo, would still have been heavily fancied tobrush the Vietnamese aside,” Tan said.

“Yet, it was not that straightforward for theSamurai Blue and their opponents deserved plenty of credit for that,” he said.

So, as Vietnam head home, they will be noshortage of talk once again but now, there is less speculation and moreaffirmation.

According to Tan, the Vietnamese team concludedtheir journey at the Asian Cup with glory and pride.

They have proven that they belong on Asia’sbiggest stage and what it takes to match some of the continent’s heaviesthitters, he said.

Such players as Nguyen Quang Hai, Nguyen CongPhuong and Doan Van Hau could possibly be good enough to play in Europe in afew years’ time, Tan said.

Vietnam are by far the kings of Southeast Asiain this present moment, he said.

The AFF Suzuki Cup 2018 champion will once againhave to prove they belong on a bigger stage when the Asian qualifiers for the2020 World Cup gets underway on September 5, he added.-VNA