Viet Nam's national U-23 football team continued their dream journey at the Asian Football Conference U23 Championship after beating Iraq 5-3 in the tense penalty shootout on Saturday evening in China’s Changsu.

Vietnamese goalkeeper Bui Tien Dung (in gray) and his teammates celebrating their unbelievable victory over Iraq (Photo: AFC)

Vietnamese team's historic victory over Iraq, who had been seen as a strong contender for the championship, really took their fans through a roller coaster of emotions, ranging from exhilaration, worry, excitement, anger, and finally the bursting into tears of unbelievable joy and happiness.

This is the first time a Southeast Asian team has reached the semifinals in the history of the continental tourney for under-23 players.

It is the fact that the dramatic victory was mainly attributed to the undaunted courage and indomitable fighting spirit of the Vietnamese ‘warriors’, a little bit of good luck,  and the wonderful leadership of coach Park Hang-seo with reasonable adjustments to the team tactics.

Vietnamese (in red) and Iraqi players during the quarterfinal thriller (Photo: AFC)

In the 12^th minute, striker Nguyen Cong Phuong opened the scoring for the Vietnamese squad with a perfect kick, surprising not only their rivals but also the whole continent.  In the 29th minute, however, Iraq’s striker Ayman Hussein levelled the score at 1-1 with a penalty.

The second half saw great efforts from both sides but none of them bagged more goals, leading the match to the extra time which saw two goals from each side.

In detail, Hussein, again, helped Iraq took a 2-1 lead just 4 minutes into the first half of extra time, but Vietnamese men managed to level again in the 108^th minute following a goal by Phan Van Duc. 

The match became more dramatic as Ha Duc Chinh gave Viet Nam the lead once again with a 112^th minute goal, but then, Alaa Mhawi sent the game into a shootout with a goal just 4 minutes later.

In the resulting penalty shootout, the brave Vietnamese players successfully converted all the 5 sot kicks after Iraq had its first penalty saved.

Star Ha Duc Chinh made the great efforts to the Vietnamese squad’ win over the Iraqi rivals (Photo: AFC)

Viet Nam, the only ASEAN country in the continental tournament’s last-four round, will challenge Qatar in the semis on Tuesday, 23 January, exactly at 3.00pm.

Like other localities nationwide, Da Nang’ major streets, including Tran Phu, Le Duan, Bach Dang and Nguyen Van Linh, were enlivened with big crowds of fans waving the Vietnamese flag to celebrate the Vietnamese team’s historic win in the U-23 Asian Cup.

A large number of fans in Da Nang taking to Nguyen Van Linh Street to celebrate the victory (Photo: Xuan Son)

In particular, a big crowd of 200 motorcycles in total, were seen travelling along a section of busy Nguyen Van Linh near the western end of the Rong (Dragon) Bridge.

Many downtown streets were wide awake with celebrating fans, regardless of cold weather at night (Photo: Xuan Son)

The local fans continuously chanted the names of such Vietnamese stars as Duc Chinh, Cong Phuong and Xuan Truong.  

Celebrating fans happily waving the Vietnamese flag (Photo: Xuan Son)

Vietnamese supporters hope the Park Hang Seo’s team will go further in this ongoing tournament, continuing to set historical milestones in the world football.

Local supporters cheering on the Vietnamese team

In a similar vein, on Saturday, the head of Vietnamese government, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also sent a congratulation letter to Viet Nam U23s for securing a historic spot in the semis of the 2018 AFC U23 Championship.

Local police officers on duty at local intersections to ensure traffic safety (Photo: Xuan Son)