The result was considered an encouraging achievement for Vietnamese beach soccer in 2014 – a year witnessing impressive performances by the national team on international arenas.

The Vietnam squad, coached by Dang Quoc Hung, finished as runners-up at the 2014 AFF Beach Soccer Championship hosted in Malaysia two months ago, with their Bui Tran Tuan Anh named the tournament’s top scorer for his 15 goals.

Vietnamese beach footballers went on to shine brightly at the 4th Asian Beach Games in Phuket, Thailand in November, overcoming many powerhouses such as Kuwait and Qatar to qualify for the semifinal round.

Despite missing out on the medal, Vietnam won many rating points for their 4th-place finish, climbing to fourth position in the Asian rankings, behind the United Arab Emirates (495 points), Iran (350 points) and Japan (315 points).

Russia, Brazil and the Switzerland made the world’s top three teams, scoring 1215, 860 and 837 points respectively.