Hanoi (VNA) ༺– Vietnam lost to Indonesia by a goal to nilin their third match of Group F in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers at GeloraBung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, on March 21.

Both teams started the match slowly with Vietnam the better in thefirst 15 minutes. A great chance fell to Nguyen Dinh Bac in the 12th minute,but the youngster squandered the opportunity. Ten minutes later, Vietnam had a good shout for a penalty whenHoang Duc was brought down inside Indonesia's penalty area, but the refereewaved play on, adamant that the defender got to the ball first. The match's pace was slowed down even more by fouls fromIndonesian players, and the first half soon came to an end with a goallessscore line. Coach Shin Tae-yong brought on three substitutions after thebreak, with the goliath defender Sandy Walsh, throw-in specialist Pratama Arhanand midfielder Egy Maulana Vikri entering the field. Two of those substitutions worked wonderfully, as Pratama and EgyMaulana combined to open the score for Indonesia in the 51st minute. The Indonesians stayed strong in the final minutes and successfully defended their narrow 1-0victory. With this defeat, Vietnam is now in third place with only threepoints, whereas Indonesia jumped from bottom of the group to second place. Vietnam needs a victory in the rematch at home in My Dinh on March26 and another defeat would spell doom for the team's qualification hopes./.