The Vietnam national team had to suffer a painful defeat from the visiting team Iraq in the second round of the 2026 World Cup qualifying round in the Asian zone. After fighting hard throughout the match and holding back the onslaught of the Mesopotamian Lions, the Vietnam National Team finally had to bow down after Mohanad Ali successfully broke through the hosts’ goal in the 90+7 minute.
Apparently, the last minute defeat suffered by Vietnam made the media there speak up. One of the well-known media in the country, thetaovanhoa.vn, even discussed the bitter history of defeat that Vietnam received in crucial minutes of the match.
Uniquely, in the discussion entitled “Seven times the Vietnamese team collapsed at the decisive moment, 3 times against Iraq (Seven times the Vietnam national team lost in decisive moments, 3 times against Iraq). Thetaovanhoa mentioned the Indonesian national team in his article.
As explained by the media, on the seven occasions that Vietnam suffered tragic defeats, Indonesia contributed twice to the suffering.
The first occurred in the 2000 edition of the Tiger Cup. At that time, Vietnam, who met Indonesia in the semi-finals of the tournament, lost with a score of 2-3 to the Garuda Troops. At that time, Indonesia’s mainstay striker, Gendut Doni Christiawan, was the decisive actor in Indonesia’s victory with a goal he scored in the last minute of the second half of extra time.
Continuing in 2007 in the AFF Cup group stage, Vietnam again had the nightmare of conceding a goal in the final and deciding minutes. Competing against Indonesia, Vietnam, which at that time was coached by Alfred Riedl, succeeded in taking the lead in the 35th minute through an own goal from Indonesian right back, Supardi Nasir.
However, disaster struck for them when the match only had a few moments left to end. Saktiawan Sinaga, who was the main striker for the Indonesian National Team at that time, managed to equalize when the match entered unjury time, and erase Vietnam’s three points which were in sight.
Well, it turns out that apart from Iraq, the Indonesian National Team can also disappoint Vietnam at the last minute. It’s no wonder that the well-known media outlet Thetaovanhoa is bringing up and mentioning the name of the Indonesian National Team in its articles.
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