Lookatvietnam – It took them 49 years, but the national team finally netted their first regional gold title in December 2008 in a nail-biting final against arch rivals Thailand.

Number one: Vietnamese players lift the ASEAN Football Championship - AFF-Suzuki Cup after beating archrivals Thailand 3-2 on aggregate goal in a two-leg final in Ha Noi and Bangkok. It was the first ever regional gold title won by Viet Nam football.

But, the Year of the Rat proved triumphant for the nation, thanks to the skill and drive of the national team.

Goalkeeper Duong Hong Son was named best player at the competition for his perfect performance in the two-leg final in Thailand and Viet Nam. Son was praised by English coach Peter Reid at a press conference after the first stage in Bangkok, where Viet Nam stunned Thailand 2-1.

Calisto was also revered for the part he played in the victory. The 56-year-old is known for his experimental styles of attack, and guided V-League Dong Tam Long An to two straight V- League titles in 2005-06. It wasn’t all a bed of roses, as the coach was criticised by the media for leading the team to 11 defeats since taking the helm in April.

But that did not throw him off kilter for the AFF Cup.

Calisto, who is the second foreigner in ten years, after Riedl, to coach Viet Nam’s football team twice, has been the most successful coach in the country’s history.

Since 1996, Viet Nam has parted company with six other foreign coaches: Briton Colin Murphy, German Karl Heinz Weigang, Brazilian Edson Tavares, Austrian Alfred Riedl, Brazilian-born Dutchman Edson Silva Dido, and France’s Letard.

Surprise victory

The triumph was by no means a foregone conclusion. Although Viet Nam played all out against Thailand, Malaysia and Laos in the group round, the team had little luck fulfilling their mission.

Viet Nam opened the tournament with a 2-0 loss to Thailand and a 4-0 win over Laos before facing a do-or-die match with Malaysia, who also lost to Thailand.

Four minutes to the last whistle in their match with Malaysia, Malaysia’s Elias strayed too far from the goal, allowing Phong’s 70m pass to bounce over the keeper and roll into the net, making the score 3-2.

The valuable win sent Viet Nam to a two-leg semi-final with Singapore.

The first leg in Viet Nam ended a goalless draw, in which Singapore netted the ball in the second half in an offside spot.

But Viet Nam edged 1-0 in the second leg in Singapore thanks to a goal from super substitute Nguyen Quang Hai, who was sent onto the field in lucky jersey number No 13.

“Calisto is actually a magician. He can read the match well and change the tactics accordingly. He is very special,” said the coach’s language assistant Ngo Le Bang.

“I just translate his instructions to players, but I can feel that he raises his player’s spirit by shouting: ’fighting; fighting; move’, move most of training sessions, says Bang, who was former footballer in the Capital Military Zone team in the 1980s.

Golden sunset

Four days later, goals from Viet Nam’s Cong Vinh and Nguyen Vu Phong stung Thailand 2-1 in the first leg of the crucial final.

Not only was it Vinh’s first goal at the AFF Cup, but it was also Viet Nam’s first win over Thailand in 10 years since a 3-0 victory in the semi-finals of the ’98 Tiger Cup in Ha Noi.

Calisto said after the match: “It was a good, high-pressured game. We scored through two good counter-attacks.”

In a pre-second leg final match in Ha Noi, Calisto sent a message to his players: “Believe in yourselves and you will win the title”.

In the first half of the second leg final at My Dinh National Stadium, millions of Vietnamese fans were on the edge of their seats as Thailand netted the ball to lead 1-0 and level the game 2-2 with an aggregated goal of two-leg final.

In the second half, Calisto substituted captain Minh Phuong, 29, who was a member of Calisto’s squad who won the AFF bronze medal in 2002. The change paid off.

In the last second, Viet Nam had a freekick near the 18-yard- box edge. Phuong’s curled lob found Vinh, who had a good position in the penalty box to dumfound Thailand’s hope of a win.

“It was an unbelievable goal,” said sports reporter Duong Thanh Liem, who watched both finals between Viet Nam and Thailand. “The Vietnamese players have made a dream come true for the country.”

Liem’s enthusiasm was matched by chairman of the Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF) Nguyen Trong Hy. “There have only been two times in my life, when I have felt so euphoric: when the country was reunified in 1975 and when our team won the AFF Cup,” said Hy, who is also a former soldier.

On the other side, Thailand’s coach Peter Reid was left to reflect on what might have been. “It was a difficult game all the way until the last minute,” said the shell-shocked coach. “It was a cruel blow but hopefully, we will learn from it.”

Just rewards

The VFF has announced it will give each member of Viet Nam’s national team a record cash-prize of VND600 million (US$35,000) from a total of over VND11 billion ($647,000) in prize funds before the Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays.

Striker Nguyen Quang Hai, also player for V-League Khanh Hoa, scored the only goal to help Viet Nam sail over Singapore in the two-leg semi-final. He said he will use his share to build a new house for his mother in Nha Trang coastal city.

“I want to build a new house for my mother. It’s thanks to her that what I did for the squad, and we could cheer such a monumental victory.”

(Source: Viet Nam News)