Why Everyone is Going Gaga Over Today’s Football Match Between S’pore & Vietnam

By
Chew Ming Hui
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Singapore will be playing Vietnam at the first leg of the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup semi-final on Thursday (26 December). Home tickets have been completely sold out, and multiple locations will be screening the live match.

So, why is everyone going gaga over today’s football match between Singapore and Vietnam? Well, we’re here to summarise why, so that you know what to say when your friends ask you about it.

Or, so you can pretend to be interested in football if your date is obsessed with the sport lah.

The First Time Singapore Has Reached the Semi-Finals Since 2021

Many didn’t expect Singapore to reach the semi-finals of the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup this year, given that the last time we the semi-finals of the tournament was back in 2021.

It also didn’t help that prior to the tournament, the Singapore team wasn’t exactly at its best — it had a 3-2 win against Myanmar and 3-2 loss to Chinese Taipei in international friendlies last month.

In other words, expectations were low lah.

So, of course, people were pleasantly surprised when Singapore made the semi-finals after a 0-0 draw with our friends from across the causeway last week.

This is the first time Singapore is reaching the semi-finals of the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup since 2021. It’s no wonder that home tickets for today’s match against Vietnam sold out within hours.

Singapore Has Not Beaten Vietnam in a Senior International Football Match in More Than 2 Decades

But that’s not all — the match-up makes things even more exciting. While Singapore will be playing Vietnam tonight, the Singapore team has not beaten its Vietnamese counterparts in a senior international football match in more than two decades.

Yes, you read that right. In particular, the last time that happened was all the way back in 1998, during the Tiger Cup final — that is 26 years ago.

And this isn’t without reason either. On the FIFA world rankings, Vietnam is currently ranked 114th, while Singapore is ranked 160th. The Vietnamese team is also a favourite to win the tournament.

And as we all know, rooting for the underdogs — in this case, the Singapore team, is always exhilarating lah.

Playing in Jalan Besar Stadium: How it Helps Singapore

But there’s one last thing which makes this match a highly anticipated one. The match will be happening in Jalan Besar stadium, as the National Stadium has been booked for concerts.

But what’s so special about the Jalan Besar stadium?

For one, the stands at the Jalan Besar stadium are rather close to the football pitch. And if you’ve been to a football match, you would know everything that that does for the energy in the stadium.

And hopefully, the high energy from the fans would bring better plays from the team lah.

However, the most significant benefit of playing in Jalan Besar stadium appears to be the astroturf. The Singapore players are more familiar with it compared to the Vietnam players.

For those of us who don’t play football, here’s the thing about astroturfs — these artificial pitches are hard and make the ball harder to control.

So, if you’re familiar with playing on astroturfs, of course it’s better lah. Unfortunately for the Vietnamese team, it seems that they struggled on the astroturf of the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila, when they played the Philippines last week.

That’s why some have speculated that Singapore could have a decent chance against the Vietnam team in the match tonight.

If you’re excited about the match now but don’t know where to watch it, you’ll be happy to know that there will be several “live” watch parties islandwide.

You can catch the live screenings of the match at 11 community clubs and centres at Our Tampines Hub, Heartbeat @ Bedok, One Punggol, Wisma Geylang Serai, Kaki Bukit CC, Keat Hong CC, Jurong Spring CC, Pek Kio CC, Radin Mas CC, Tampines West CC and Buangkok CC.

Alternatively, if you’re nearer to the HomeTeamNS clubhouses at JOM Balestier, Khatib and Bedok Reservoir, those three clubhouses are screening the match too.

You can also catch the match live on mewatch!

If you watch at least 10 minutes of brain rot content daily, you must know this:

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Chew Ming Hui
Email: [email protected]