Duong Vu Lam wants to complain to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) about the Myanmar referee who supervised the AFF Women’s Football Championship final on August 4.

This follows the referee’s decision not to recognise a goal scored by Vietnam in the match with Thailand.

Lam is Vietnam women’s football team’s chief of mission at the tournament.

Thailand beat Vietnam 7-6 on penalties, after a 1-1 draw in regular time and extra-time.

In the penalty shootout, Nguyen Thị Lieu shot the ball passing the lime line to the goal of the Thai team, but referee Thein Thein Aye didn’t acknowledge her goal.

After the match, Lam and the Vietnam training board spoke to the referee and the AFF representatives, but the match result was not changed.

“Lieu’s goal was legal. We will send the match video to the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and then send our petition to the AFF,” Lam said.

“The referee didn’t acknowledge Lieu’s goal when the ball passed the lime line. The Vietnam team was very persistent, however, later we agreed to continue playing. It meant that we accepted the referee’s decisions and we couldn’t change the result,” Le Hoai Anh, general secretary of the VFF, said.

“Every sport has a rule of play. We must respect that rule. The VFF will not lodge a complaint about the referee’s management,” Anh said. 

VNS