Futsal 

HÀ NỘI — A loss against Thailand in the final group game of the ASEAN Futsal Championship 2026 means Việt Nam will face Indonesia in the semis.

 

Việt Nam lost 4-2 to the hosts in the last Group A match at the Central Stadium in Nonthaburi Province, Thailand.

Rakphol Sainetngam’s men took a 2-0 lead at the end of an intense first-half through goals from Itticha Prapaphan in the 16th minute and Sarawut Phalapruk in the 20th minute.

The match went up a gear after the break, where, after Mintada Piromyu had put Thailand three up ahead in the 23rd minute, Vietnam replied with their first goal from Từ Minh Quang moments later.

Nguyễn Đa Hải then narrowed the exchange to 3-2 with Việt Nam’s second goal in the 35th minute.

However, an own goal from Võ Ngọc Anh in the very last minute of play gifted Thailand the group win.

In the meantime, Timor-Leste shocked Myanmar with a 4-2 two in their final game of Group A.

The Timorese scored three goals in a five-minute blitz through Ruben Borges in the fourth minute and a quick double from Rivaldo Ribeiro and Joel Fernandes, all in the ninth minute.

Myanmar scored their only goal in the game through Hae Mat Htay in the 23rd minute.

In Group B action, a late winner from Muhammad Sanjaya gave Indonesia not only a well-deserved 3-2 victory over Australia but also Group B's top place.

Later, Malaysia completed their fixtures with an 8-4 victory over Brunei to finish third.

In the semi-finals on April 10, Thailand will take on Australia, while Việt Nam will play defending champions Indonesia.

This is a really big challenge for Việt Nam to lift the regional title for the first time. Indonesia came to Thailand as top title favourite after they won SEA Games 2025 gold medal and finished second in the Asian championships 2026 where Việt Nam were disqualified from the quarter-finals.

 

The Indonesian team however are not under a pressure to win the championship but focusing on playing their own style, according to coach Hector Souto who clearly knew Việt Nam's futsal after his six years working in the country.

For the 2026 championship, the team had only three days of training, causing challenges in adaptation and cohesion. But they thrashed Brunei 7-0 in the first match and beat Malaysia 1-0 in the second game. The 3-2 result over Australia on April 8 gave them a perfect record in the group stages.

In their latest meet at the 33rd SEA Games last December, two-time World Cup participating Việt Nam won 1-0 with the only goal belonging to Từ Minh Quang in the 11th minute of the round-robin format event. — VNS