HANOI (13 Sept 2014) – Omotehara Genta emerged as the supersub for Japan when his strike in the second half gave them a hard fought 1-0 win over hosts Vietnam in the final of the AFF Nutifood Cup 2014 this evening at the My Dinh National Stadium.
With the crowd having thronged to the venue, hours before the start of the match, there were high expectations that Vietnam might just pull off a fabulous win.
But despite the numerous chances created, they just could not muster that final push in the last quarter of the pitch for the win.
“It was hard fought. It was evenly matches but I thought that we had that little extra edge for the victory today,” said Japanese coach Suzuki Masakazu.
“It has been a fantastic tournament and we are thankful to the AFF for this opportunity to test our players.”
The Japanese, by virtue of not having dropped a single match all throughout their previous matches, were the overwhelming favourites.
But hope springs eternal and Vietnam buoyed by their loud and boisterous fans were certainly not giving any quarter. The game was fought well and hard at the centre of the park.
Nguyen Tuan Anh and Luong Xuan Truong were in a midfield battle against their opposites in Ideguchi Yosuke and Sakai Daisuke.
With Vietnam striker Nguyen Cong Phuong closely shackled, the night was always going to be long for the hosts even though Nguyen Van Toan and Tuan Anh did make some leeway into the Japanese box.
As time start to trickle down, the change for Omotehara in the 69th minute would be pivotal and five minutes later, he scored the winner A failed clearance on the right, saw the ball being swung to the left as Omotehara then unleashed a stiff grounder to beat Vietnam keeper Le Van Truong.
In the meantime, Thailand took third spot in the competition when they beat Myanmar 1-0 with Patipan Pinsermsootsri scoring the only goal of the game late in the 90th minute.
RESULTS
13 Sept 2014
Final: Japan 1 Vietnam 0
Third and Fourth Placing: Thailand 1 Myanmar 0
