2022 Vietnam v China football match

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Vietnam v China (2022)

Tragedy of Hanoi (河内惨案)
Event	2022 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers Matchday 8
Vietnam China 3 1
China eliminated from the 2022 FIFA World Cup
Date	1 February 2022 (2022-02-01)
Venue	Mỹ Đình National Stadium, Hanoi
Referee	Nawaf Shukralla (Bahrain)
Attendance	6,099
Weather	Cold and heavy wind

During the eighth match of the final qualification round for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Vietnam stunned all the prediction with a shock 3–1 home win over China in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Had China won the match, it could still count on some slim hopes to qualify for the competition in Qatar. Instead, this defeat effectively ended China's hopes to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and has been referred by Chinese media as the Tragedy of Hanoi (Chinese: 河内惨案; pinyin: Hénèi cǎn'àn).

The outcome had caused a massive and polarised reaction from both Vietnamese and Chinese supporters. Whilst Vietnamese reacted jubilantly with the win their national side obtained, Chinese reaction had been very furious and hostile to the shock outcome. China has been historically more successful in football than that of its southern neighbour, and has gone a long way to become one of the few nations to have taken part in the FIFA World Cup, which occurred in 2002, which was a reason for the outrage among Chinese supporters after this disheartening loss.

Leading up to the match

Both China and Vietnam qualified to the final round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification after being among the group of five best runners-up in the second round. As for the result, both nations effectively qualified for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, with China being the hosts of the edition. The draw put China and Vietnam into the same group B, alongside powerhouses Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia, alongside another underdog Oman. Historical conflicts and tensions that rooted from the past between the two nations, most recently being the 1979 war and eventual border war, as well as recent territorial conflict in South China Sea, had made the game one of the most anticipated encounter in Vietnam and for some sets of Chinese fans, with the former even shown a greater desire to defeat China, as expressed by both fans and football commentators in Vietnam.

By the time of the 1 February 2022 meeting, the situation was followed by the table:

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts

Before the 1 February fixture, China and Vietnam have met each other seven times in the past, all ended with Chinese victories. This also included the most recent meeting in the earlier encounter at 7 October 2021 in Sharjah, with China grabbed its first ever three points in the qualification thanked to a late goal by Espanyol striker Wu Lei in 90+5' to survive the scare. After that game, China also successfully gained two draws, including a famous draw against Australia 1–1, also by a penalty from Wu Lei. However, both two sides lost their seventh game, with China beaten away 0–2 by Japan while Vietnam was completely trashed by Australia 0–4 away as well. While the former could still rely on slim hopes to qualify, the latter was officially out of contention following the loss in Melbourne, thus Vietnam would host China with only pride to play for, already pointless in the final round of the qualification.

Interestingly, the 1 February fixture coincided with the Lunar New Year's Eve, a traditional New Year festival celebrated by both China and Vietnam. This increased the importance of the meeting, especially for Vietnamese, while for many Chinese, the game was also highly enjoyed due to the coincidence. However, China had just entered another staff reshuffle, with Li Tie, a former 2002 World Cup participant and previous coach in charge of China's earlier 3–2 triumph over Vietnam, resigned and replaced by Li Xiaopeng, Li Tie's former World Cup teammate as well. Still, before the important Lunar New Year encounter, almost every major sports media believed China would triumph easily to continue its desperate quest. This was also reinforced by historical H2H record between China and other Southeast Asian nations in official tournaments, having lost just one against Southeast Asian opponents in either qualifications or official FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup, which was against Indonesia (0–2) during the 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification, which was the first time China took part as the newly established People's Republic.

Match

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam, the game had to be played with limited spectators.

With the aim to put a greater pressure on Australia, immediately China poured up its offense against Vietnam in the first minutes of the game, hoping to score an early goal to enhance its advantage. However, while the pressure was yet to materialise into a goal, China's feckless defence led to its crumble in 9' when Phạm Tuấn Hải passed to Đỗ Hùng Dũng, who immediately sent ball to Hồ Tấn Tài, whose header hit to the corner inside the net with Yan Junling just stood there, allowing Vietnam to lead 1–0. Wu Lei and Aloísio received long ball each in 11' and 14' but was intercepted. Just a minute later, Xu Xin committed an unnecessary foul on Nguyễn Quang Hải, allowing a freekick, which saw China conceding its second after just 16', with Phạm Tuấn Hải made a smart pass, passing Chinese defenders easily before Nguyễn Tiến Linh hit straight to make it two. Vietnam later played deep defence but China proved to be unable to break the deadlock despite efforts from Dai Wai Tsun and Wu Lei. In 34', Wang Shenchao later headed into the Vietnamese net, but was intercepted by goalkeeper Trần Nguyên Mạnh. Alan Carvalho tested Nguyên Mạnh yet again with a long-range shot in 37' only to be controlled by the Vietnamese keeper. In 45+2', China had a freekick but nothing was done and the game temporarily settled with a 2–0 lead for the hosts after the first half, despite China being in control of possession.

The second half appeared to have a somewhat more heated on as China had to pile up pressure to keep its slim hope alive. Zhang Yuning had his shot into the net in 48', only to be ruled offside. Despite rampage Chinese attacks later on, Vietnamese defence withstood. As Chinese frustration grew, its defence became increasingly feckless, and in a moment of delight, substitute Phan Văn Đức turned hero with a thunder strike from the middle of the field in 76', with the ball hit the column before deflecting into the net, giving Vietnam a 3–0 advantage. However, Vietnam suffered a blow when its keeper Nguyên Mạnh was injured and replaced by veteran keeper Bùi Tấn Trường. Nonetheless, China could only reduce the deficit to two with a late goal by Xu Xin in 90+7' to end the game 3–1, granting Vietnam a famous history while effectively eliminated China from the run.

Match detail

1 February

19:00 UTC+7

Vietnam	3–1	China PR
Hồ Tấn Tài  9' Nguyễn Tiến Linh  16' Phan Văn Đức  76'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) Report (Soccerway)	Xu Xin  90+7'

Mỹ Đình National Stadium, Hanoi, Vietnam

Attendance: 6,099

Referee: Nawaf Shukralla (Bahrain)

Vietnam

China

Vietnam: GK 23 Trần Nguyên Mạnh  86' RB 13 Hồ Tấn Tài  45+2' CB 16 Nguyễn Thành Chung CB 21 Trần Đình Trọng  46' CB 4 Bùi Tiến Dũng LB 7 Nguyễn Phong Hồng Duy  86' CM 19 Nguyễn Quang Hải CM 14 Nguyễn Hoàng Đức CM 8 Đỗ Hùng Dũng (c) CF 22 Nguyễn Tiến Linh  70' CF 11 Phạm Tuấn Hải  90+1' Substitutes: DF 12 Bùi Hoàng Việt Anh  46' FW 20 Phan Văn Đức  70' GK 1 Bùi Tấn Trường  86' DF 17 Vũ Văn Thanh  86' FW 10 Nguyễn Công Phượng  90+1' Manager: Park Hang-Seo

China: GK 1 Yan Junling RB 5 Zhang Linpeng CB 6 Tyias Browning CB 20 Zhu Chenjie LB 4 Wang Shenchao CM 15 Wu Xi (c)  5' CM 13 Xu Xin  43' RW 7 Wu Lei  67' CM 21 Dai Wai Tsun  67' LW 18 Aloísio  35'  46' CF 11 Alan  46' Substitutes: FW 14 Wei Shihao  46' FW 9 Zhang Yuning  46' FW 22 Yu Dabao  67' MF 17 Liu Binbin  67' Manager: Li Xiaopeng

Reactions

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts

The win over China was significantly viewed as a major turning point in Vietnamese football, as well as Southeast Asian football in general. Since Indonesia (as Dutch East Indies) first appeared in the World Cup at 1938 thanked to Japanese withdrawal, only Thailand has come close to qualify for the World Cup, twice reaching the final round in the 2002 and 2018 qualifiers, but all Thailand could do was six draws out of 18 games in total. Thus, the 3–1 triumph over China by Vietnam was a historic first-ever Southeast Asian win in the final phase of the qualification, as well as the first-ever Chinese defeat to a Southeast Asian opponent in any official competition after 65 years. Though the win didn't change the outcome however, with Vietnam already eliminated from the contention after an agonising seven defeats in a row earlier, as the historic win fell on the Lunar New Year's Day, this was greeted with jubilant and joys by Vietnamese supporters.

The sentiment was also shared by other Southeast Asian media, which also pointed out the win as the first ever from an ASEAN country to be done, given Southeast Asia's weak reputation in the sport. The win for Vietnam is also another significant landmark, as it was also the first-ever Vietnamese win over China in football history. After the emotional achievement, Vietnam's Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính had stepped into the field to congratulate the team for winning in an important day for many Vietnamese. Since the reign of the Korean manager Park Hang-Seo as coach of Vietnam in 2017, Vietnam has never lost to any AFC teams at home save for Asia's Big Five (Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, South Korea and Australia).

Chinese reactions, by far, had been an utmost hostility as the loss culminated right on the Lunar New Year's Day, both from fans and media as a huge "shame", and had become one of the top trending issue in China's Sina Weibo. The loss ultimately crippled China from ever qualifying to the competition in Qatar, and effectively extended China's World Cup hunt to 24 years, since the first and only Chinese appearance in 2002. The loss was even more humiliating, due to the grand ambition of Chinese President and also an avid football fan, Xi Jinping, to make China a formidable superpower in the sport by 2050 as part of strengthening China's political and cultural soft power, considering that China would also host the 2022 Winter Olympics. As such, beleaguered Chinese football fans had criticised harshly the performance of Team Dragon.

After the game, China's captain Wu Xi had to apologise supporters for failing to fulfil the quest. The sentiment was also shared by manager Li Xiaopeng, who stated China needed a full overhaul to overcome the humiliation. Fellow 2002 World Cup participant, Fan Zhiyi, had also urged for a massive overhaul to restore public confidence about the national team. Interestingly, Fan Zhiyi had once predicted that one day Vietnam would beat China back in an interview in 2013, when China suffered a thunderous 1–5 home loss to Thailand, although unlike the shock loss away to Vietnam, the defeat to Thailand happened in a friendly instead.

See also

• China–Vietnam relations
• Lunar New Year
• China national football team
• Vietnam national football team

External links

• Group B: Vietnam cruise past China PR for first win

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