Stadium Rajamangala, Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, December 24, 2008 – Thailand unexpectedly conceded two goals in three minutes in the first half to go down 1-2 to Vietnam in the first leg of their ASEAN Football Championship (AFF Suzuki Cup) final.

It was a game most football watchers had expected Thailand to win but Vietnam scored both first half goals on the counter-attack. Vietnam’s first goal came off the head of Nguyen Vu Phong in the 42nd minute and two minutes later, their star striker Le Cong Vinh finally scored his first goal of the championship.

Thailand managed to narrow the deficit in the second half off a header by substitute Ronnachai Rangsiyo with his first touch of the ball in the 75th minute. His goal needed a lucky deflection off the boot of the Vietnamese keeper after his header had moments earlier bounced off the post.

Thailand thought they had the equaliser two minutes later but the assistant referee wrongly flagged for offside, enraging the 30,000 fans at the stadium.

Vietnam, which did not win a single warmup game in their preparation for this championship, seem to have hit a rich vein of form and luck at the right time and now take a psychological advantage back to Hanoi for the second leg final on Sunday, December 28th.