Vietnam started the game confidentlyand pushed forward right away.
In the 7th minute, Vietnamese goalkeeper Quan Van Chuan cleared the ball atthe edge of the box and the ball found Quentin Cheng, who tried to finishquickly but he missed the goal.
Two minutes later, Nham Manh Dung received the ball from midfield andnoticed that keeper Firdaus Irman went a bit far from goal. Dung finished rightaway but it went out.
In the 23rd minute, it was Manh Dung again, this time with a finish fromthe left flank, but keeper Irman blocked the shot.
Three minutes later, the ball found Dung Quang Nho after Manh Dung's pass,but the midfielder rocketed it over the bar.
In the 29th minute, NguyenThanh Nhan crossed from the left flank for Manh Dung, who got a powerful headerto defeat keeper Irman and opened the scoring for Vietnam.
Just one minute later, Aiman Afif took a shot from long distance, but itwent high for Malaysia.
In the 32nd minute, Manh Dung got another chance toscore but his shot lacked power. The ball seemed to cross the line althoughkeeper Irman caught it. However, the sideline referee said it was not a goal.
Nguyen Hai Long forced keeper Irman to punch the ball again with a goodfreekick in the 34th minute.
In the 40th minute, Manh Dung got another scoring chance from anotherheader but it didn't hit the target.
In the last minute of the first half, Quang Nhoreceived a pass inside the box and dribbled past Hairiey Hakim. The ball seemed to have hit the arm of theHakim. After five minutes of reviewing the play on VAR, the referee gaveVietnam a penalty and Hakim a red card. Malaysia were down to 10 men.
Captain Bui Hoang Viet Anh took the penalty forVietnam. Keeper Irman was able to block it the first time but couldn't saveViet Anh's second finish after that. The referee also blew the whistle to endthe first half after the goal.
Entering the second half,as usual, Vietnam pushed forward right after the whistle.
In the 60th minute, Nguyen Van Truong triedhis luck with a shot from 30 m and it still lacked a bit of accuracy.
Three minutes later, ThanhNhan passed from the left flank inside to Nguyen Van Tung, whose shot hit thepost.
Van Tung tried to volley inthe 70th minute and it found Quang Nho, who took another shot, but it stayedoff target.
A rare chance for Malaysia in the 76th minute when Quentin Cheng'sheader was close to a goal.
With this win, Vietnam ranked second in Group C with fivepoints and secured a berth in the quarterfinals while the RoK came first.
Vietnam will play the first-placed team of Group D inthe quarterfinals./.