Vietnam and Iraq got three points each in their first opening matches several days ago. They are expected to progress to the third qualifying round, and their clash at My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi on November 21 evening would determine the group F winners.  

The first minutes of the match saw Iraqi players organize attacks, with a primaery focus on shots from the right side.

More than half of the first half passed, but Vietnamese players did not pose any real danger to the Iraqi side.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese goalkeeper Dang Van Lam worked rather hard to either save the ball or repel the shots due to home defenders’ mistakes.

Facing off the visiting players who were in good form, hosts Vietnam successfully kept a clean sheet In the face of in the first 45 minutes.

After the break, the players coming from West Asia continued to show off their strength, challenging goalkeeper Van Lam.

In the last minutes, the Vietnamese players retreated completely to their home field, hoping to defend the goalless score. Some players suffered from cramps but coach Phillippe Troussier no longer had a chance to make more substitutions.

When the match seemed to end up in a 0-0 draw, the visiting team surprisingly opened the score with Mohammad Ali’s header in the injury time.

After the match, Troussier praised Vietnamese players for their courage throughout the match, but regretted that Vietnam lost to the visiting West Asian team in the last minute of injury time.