Tan’s in Việt Nam!

Regular viewers of this site will notice that there is now a splash page at my site. All credit goes to Tin. It is a picture of Gerard, the EAP director of this program. I just like that picture, and I’ve been looking for a way to incorporate it into my blog. The truly observant will also notice that the addresses to all blog entries are now some variant of “vietnam.mijeje.com”. Logistically, it means that links made in older entries (which connect you to even older entries) might no longer work.

An example of a link: the picture on my splash page was taken at the Quang Trung Museum (< -That's a link!). I have personally fixed all the links in previous entries to match this new "vietnam.mijeje.com", though some links may have escaped my notice.

If you find any nonfunctioning links in my previous entries, tell me and you will have my eternal gratitude.

The other day, Vietnam’s Women Soccer Team won a resounding victory over some country, securing their gold medal achievement in the 2005 SEA Games. I did not watch it, but some of the youth of Vietnam rode around Hanoi in their motorbikes blowing horns and banging drums. Some carried Vietnam flags around, and nearly all of them had red strips of fabric on their heads and/or arms. These strips all said one thing: “Viet Nam Vo Dich”. I believe it means “Vietnam is unrivalled/ unmatched.” These youths also chanted that same phrase throughout the night. However, there were no riots. Everyone knew that their Women’s Soccer team won gold, but this team simply does not carry the same clout as their male counterparts.

Vietnam’s Men’s Soccer team also made it to the finals despite their 0-1 loss to the Indonesians a few days before. Apparently the soccer tournament is based on some sort of point system that makes it unnecessary for a team to win all of its matches. I suspect Vietnam’s 8-2 thrashing of Laos was key to Vietnam’s bid into the finals.

The Men’s Soccer final was tonight: Vietnam vs. Thailand. Apparently, these two teams are perennial powerhouses at the SEA games, constantly meeting each other in the finals. Historically, Thailand has always won the gold. Judging by the looks on the team’s faces before the match began, anyone watching the game knew that Vietnam intended to change that history tonight. All over Hanoi, people gathered in each other’s homes, at bia hoi’s, and bars, to watch this match. It is not an exaggeration to say that all of Vietnam sat home tonight to watch the game.

The match opened with Thailand clearly with the initiative. They played their offense much more often than Vietnam did. Vietnam, however, proved ready to play tough. Unfortunately, “playing tough” also means intentionally giving Thailand a knee into the stomach when the ref was not looking, giving an extra shove hear and there, and pretending to be hurt everytime they fell. I do not like that kind of play. It is unsportsmanlike and extremely dirty. I attribute such behavior in any sporting event to a lack of confidence in one’s athletic ability and/or a secret fear that a loss is imminent. And Vietnam played the first half, not with confidence, but with fear.

Of course, that did not stop Vietnam from some truly spectacular displays of soccer talent. At one point, the ball slipped by the Vietnamese goalie and slowly bounced into the open net. One Vietnam defender, however, executed a last second bicycle kick, preventing a goal and sending the ball halfway across the field. (Do an image search of “bicycle kick” at google.com if you are not familiar with this term. You will not appreciate the athleticism (and sheer luck) involved if you don’t.)

Thailand also had its share of spectacular saves. In one notable moment, the Thai goalie dove to block an incoming shot. Though the ball went sky high, it drifted toward the goalposts, not away. One Vietnamese player was simply waiting for the ball to come down to knock it into the open goal (literally 2 meters away). Somehow, the goalie recovered, jumped out, and caught the falling ball before the Vietnamese player could head it into the goal.

But despite such amazing displays of soccer prowess, Thailand’s unrelenting offense eventually snuck in a single goal in the dying minutes of the first half. This battle, however, was only half complete. The second half proved to be just as exciting, with the winning team scoring two goals in this second half within 5 minutes of each other- all on fast breaks. That’s right, Vietnam got handled 0-3. There will be no rioting tonight.

To add insult to such a devastating loss, jubilant Thai fans at the Filipino stadium brandished “Welcome to Thailand 2007″ signs. They will be defending their title on their home turf at the next SEA games.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 4th, 2005 at 7:44 pm and is filed under Super Xanga. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.