Kelong? Vietnam authorities investigate Malaysia defeat
The ugly spectre of match-fixing in south-east Asian football has raised its head again.
Vietnamese football authorities have launched a probe into their national team's exit from the AFF Suzuki Cup following their 2-4 loss to Malaysia in Hanoi.
Vietnam crashed out despite holding a 2-1 lead from the first leg in Kuala Lumpur and their listless performance in the shock defeat at the My Dinh Stadium has raised eyebrows.
Defender Que Ngoc Hai conceded a penalty just three minutes into the second leg while Dinh Tien Thanh put the ball into his own net to give Malaysia a 3-1 lead.
The surprise defeat has led the Vietnamese Football Federation (VFF) to suspect something might be amiss.
VFF vow
Speaking to AFP, Vietnamese Football Federation deputy chairman Nguyen Xuan Gu said: "The Vietnam Football Federation will immediately ask for police to investigate the match.
"We will seriously punish wrongdoing if we find any.
"The goals we let in were unacceptable, especially as we were playing at our home stadium."
Vietnamese football has been subject to several corruption scandals in the past few years.
Match-fixing
Two players were jailed and six others received suspended sentences in 2007 after they were found guilty of fixing a match against Myanmar at the 2005 Southeast Asian Games.
In August, a Vietnamese court convicted nine footballers and one bookie of rigging an AFC Cup match between Vissai Ninh Binh and Malaysian Super League side Kelantan.
To combat match-fixing for this Suzuki Cup tournament, the Asean Football Federation engaged the services of Swiss data company Sportradar to keep tabs on all 18 matches of the competition.
Gu said: "We are determined to clean up Vietnamese football."
One disgruntled Vietnam fan who turned up for the match, Hanoi businessman Nguyen Van Hung, slammed the players for playing "as if they were kids" and letting "all the fans down".
Source: AFP
Related stories:
Malaysia upset Vietnam, to meet Thailand in final
Ten found guilty of match-fixing in Vietnam
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