BEST IN ASIA – MAYBE THE WORLD

For how else can it be concluded of a group of fans who had not only braved the cool winter breeze of Hanoi and who had also parted with a big portion of their monthly income to support their national team.

It was gathered before kick-off that the price of a single ticket for the semi-finals match against Thailand at the My Dinh Stadium had spiralled to USD 70 from USD 7 as was the original price.

The Vietnam fans complete with trumpets blaring and drums beating to the rhythmic offensive manoeuvres of their players on the pitch, were already at the stadium a good two hours before kick-off.

But the best compliment could not have from a better personality than Charnwit Phalajivin – the head coach of the Thailand national team – who said after their 2-0 victory in Hanoi that he has the utmost respect for Vietnam football fans.

“Vietnam football fans are simply awesome and I must say that throughout the several times that I’ve been here in Hanoi, I always look forward to playing for the Vietnam football fans,” said Charnwit.

“They always give a great atmosphere to any teams which play in Hanoi and I think that they can be considered as the best in Asia – or perhaps the world even.

“Winning and losing is part of the game but if Vietnam can have the same support for the return leg (in Bangkok this Sunday), then they still might have a chance against Thailand.”

Charnwit went further to say that the V-League is at the moment, the best league in Asia – in front of the Malaysian League and the Singapore League.

He said that a lot of the players from Thailand look forward to playing in the V-League where the tremendous amount of support from the fans have certainly gone a long way to making it the best in the region.

“Thailand does not even have a full professional league when compared to Vietnam, Malaysia or Singapore,” added Charnwit.

“So there’s a great opportunity here in Vietnam to make Vietnam football as one of the best in Asia.

But perhaps and despite of the fact that the My Dinh Stadium was filled to its capacity of 40,000 spectators, the behaviour of the fans after the loss to Thailand also deserved praise.

The defeat in such a crucial stage of the Asean Football Championship did not evoke a sense of anger or resentment to the players or the federation where as soon as the final whistle was blown, the fans just left the stadium without looking to cause any damage to property as is the case with other venues in the past.

But getting through the traffic was another matter altogether.