If you were unable to watch last night’s AFF Suzuki Cup semifinal, you not only missed a stunning comeback by Vietnam to defeat Malaysia, but also a kung fu technique by a Malaysian player that earned leniency from the referee.

The Vietnamese beat their Malaysian rivals in Kuala Lumpur in the first leg of their semifinal at the Cup on Sunday even though the hosts opened the scoring with a penalty awarded by Chinese referee Ma Ning, who believed defender Huy Hung played handball when he did not.

The brave Vietnamese players had to deal not only with the biased whistle, but also with the tough and violent play of the Malaysians, who repeatedly fouled the visitors.

In the 66^th minute, Malaysian captain Safiq Rahim did not bother to fight for the ball but jumped to hit a Vietnamese midfielder in the head with a kung fu technique.

The Chinese referee witnessed everything from behind but he would only withdraw his yellow card in a rare penalty imposed on the hosts.

While everything seemed against them, the Vietnamese men still valiantly fought and proved to the Malaysians that their ugly play brought them nothing but shame and a defeat.

Huy Toan leveled the match in the 32nd minute as he sprinted for the ball – shot by striker Van Quyet –after it was parried by Malaysian goalie Khairul. Quyet himself netted the winner on the hour mark with an unstoppable left-footed blast.

Match highlights and all goals

The home supporters thus lost their temper when the match ended, and eventually mounted a bloody attack against the Vietnamese fans to vent their fury, during which many of the guest supporters “were bleeding” due to glass bottles.

Meanwhile in Ho Chi Minh City, nearly 5,000 supporters flooded the Youth Culture House in the downtown area to watch the match live on wide screens. They then rushed to the streets with the national flags and dyed several roads with their red T-shirts to cheer for the victory.

Celebration in Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam and Malaysia will play the second leg game at My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi on Thursday, and Vietnamese fans now have different views on whether to “take revenge” on their Malaysian counterparts following their unruly behavior last night.

Malaysia’s coach Dollah Salleh and his men, meanwhile, arrived in the Vietnamese capital around Monday noon, only a dozen hours after their bitter home defeat.

Salleh said his squad need to get accustomed to the weather and train carefully in the hope of turning the tide.

Vietnam only need one point in this return game to advance to the finale where they will take on either Thailand or the Philippines.

Wednesday will see the second leg game of the first semifinal between Thailand and the Philippines in Bangkok, after the goalless first leg on the latter’s soil on Saturday.

The Vietnamese team won the AFF Suzuki Cup in 2008 after beating Thailand 3-2 on aggregate in the finale, staged on a home and away basis.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!