As shown on television, Vietnamese fans awaiting the Vietnam vs. Thailand U-23 match in Hanoi. Though Southeast Asia is the weakest region worldwide soccerwise, it doesn't matter. It's a regional rivalry. When Thailand played Indonesia a few days ago, there were four red cards, such was the bad blood between those two teams.
10 comments:
Vietnam won the match. Sitting in my hot room right now at 9:42 pm I can hear people racing their motorbikes, blowing their horns and shouting wildly to celebrate the victory. The city will not sleep tonight and if they don't sleep, I don't sleep even though I don't give a rat's ass about soccer and this victory. How could they can do that to an insomniac.
I hear the same noises in Vung Tau. It should die down in an hour or so.
Vietnam beat Thailand 1-0 on consecutive days, with the women's team winning yesterday.
The noises are getting louder. Maybe it won't die down in an hour or so...
Thick mobs in Saigon and Hanoi, with most masks off. Suddenly, Covid fear disappears!
Most of them may be drunk. Out of the masks, they can shout and scream even louder. Watch out for Covid "cases" all of a sudden shooting up in the next few days and the authority may "do something" about it. It ain't over, folks.
I had no idea Soccer was a big deal in Vietnam
Best,
S
Hi S,
The most popular person in Vietnam is the coach of the national team, Park Hang-Seo, a Korean. At last night's game, at least one fan waved a large South Korean flag.
This year, Vietnam beat China and tied Japan. The first result got the coach of China fired. China has also lost to Oman and Saudi Arabia recently. One Chinese commenter lamented, "Soon, we won't have anyone left to lose to!"
In East Asia, Japan and South Korea have sent many players to Europe. This year, the top scorers in the Premier League, the best in the world, are the South Korean Son Hueng-Min and the Egyptian Mohamed Salah. Scottish League champion Celtic F.C. (of Glasgow) has four Japanese players!
No Vietnamese players have made it in Europe. One played a few minutes in just one game with Sint-Truiden, a Belgian team, and another couldn't even break into a game with SC Heerenveen of the Netherlands. Thai players have been slightly more successful in Europe, but several of these were actually half European.
Last night's game had 6 foot 1 Patrik Gustavsson playing for Thailand. He's half Swedish. Vietnam, though, had a 6-2 player in goalie Nguyễn Văn Toản.
Linh
Wow, I had no idea about the East Asian prowess in soccer. My soccer knowledge is from 20 years ago, when European leagues were dominated by South American and African players.
S.
Hi S.,
They're inching up. There was a guy, Hidetoshi Nakata, who started this new wave of Asian players in Europe. He played for Perugia, Roma, Parma and Fiorentina, with his most success at Perugia. He could have played longer, but he just got tired of soccer, so retired to travel! The Italians loved him because he was a good looking guy who spoke pretty good Italian.
Linh
Meeting in Rome in 2021, Argentinian Gabriel Batistuta and Japanese Hidetoshi Nakata, ex teammates at Roma, reminisce about their playing days:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy9x0my24zY
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