Vietnam secured a 1-1 tie with Lebanon in the return leg of their playoff on May 25, clinching a berth for the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup finals for the second time, thanks to the away goals rule.

To be fair, Lebanon played better than Vietnam. The West Asian team studied very carefully Vietnam’s tactics and strategy and put all their effort into the match on May 25 in order to win a ticket to the World Cup final. However, Vietnam’s goalkeeper Ho Van Y played very well and successfully defended the goal. Moreover, luck belonged to the Vietnamese futsal team, because when goalkeeper Ho Van Y was defeated, the vertical post and the crossbar helped block Lebanese players’ shots.

Chau Doan Phat with great personal effort defeated the Lebanese goalkeeper to score a goal for Vietnam. But less than a minute later, Lebanon had an equalizer.

Under great pressure from Lebanon, the Vietnamese futsal team played their best until the last minute to maintain the 1-1 score, and won a card to the World Cup final for the second time.

A victory with a brave spirit, reasonable strategy and luck was what millions of Vietnamese fans felt during the 40-minute game at Khorfakkhan Futsal Club Hall in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Coach Pham Minh Giang’s contribution

Some were previously skeptical about coach Pham Minh Giang's leadership. In the first leg, the Vietnamese team did not play very well. But coach Pham Minh Giang's efforts helped the Vietnamese futsal team score a miracle for the second time in history.

"My players played well, and complied with the coaching board’s strategy to achieve the desired results. Before the second leg match, the team had a video conference to learn from the first leg, and agreed on the tactics and strategy to make a difference from the first match," coach Pham Minh Giang said.

The success of the Vietnamese futsal team is especially worthy because the team had less than 20 days to prepare for the two play-offs, particularly in the context of the complicated development of the Covid-19 epidemic.

This is the second time that the Vietnamese futsal team has won the card to the World Cup finals. The first time was in 2016, when the tournament was held in Colombia. In that year, Spanish coach Bruno Garcia Formoso led the team to success.

Coach Pham Minh Giang.

After that, coach Hoang Anh Tuan and the Vietnam national U19 team won the card to the World U20 Championship in 2017. Pham Minh Giang is the second Vietnamese coach who has led a national football team to the World Cup finals.

As the head coach of Thai Son Nam futsal club, Giang has led this team to both the National Cup and the National Championships with full strength.

In 2020, Giang was nominated as the best futsal coach in the world at club level, on par with world famous coaches such as Andreu Alvarez (Barcelona), Nuno Dias (Sporting Clube de Portugal), Ricardinho (Magnus Futsal), and Carlos Gago (Chonburi).

The 2021 World Cup finals will take place in Lithuania in September.

The Asian Futsal Championship, which is a qualifier of the World Cup, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, organizers decided Japan, Iran and Uzbekistan would get automatic places in the finals based on results in recent tournaments. Four other teams – Thailand, Iraq, Vietnam, and Lebanon – had been set to compete for the two remaining berths.

Vietnam currently ranks 44th in the world, four places below Lebanon. They had not met each other in any competition before the matches.

Song Ngu

Vietnam win berth for 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup

Vietnam secured a 1-1 tie with Lebanon in the return leg of their playoff on May 25, clinching a berth for the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup finals for the second time, thanks to the away goals rule.