Vietnam secured its first-ever win in the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup, defeating 2006 champions Bahrain 4-2 in match 2 of Group D at the 2025 edition in Pattaya, Thailand on Sunday afternoon.

Vietnam played with focus and organized a tight defense, opening the scoring through Tran Ngoc Bao.

After reorganizing, Bahrain equalized, but Vietnam quickly regained the lead with a goal from Phan Dat.

With just four minutes remaining, Samoul helped Bahrain level the score at 2-2, sending the match into extra time.

As per beach soccer rules, there are no draws. 

If the score is tied after three official 12-minute periods, the game proceeds to extra time and penalty shootouts to determine the winners.

In extra time against Bahrain, the Vietnamese team delivered a brilliant performance, with goals from Mai Van Manh and Phan Dat, securing a 4-2 victory.

This result gives coach Mai Van Duc and his team hope of reaching the quarterfinals if they win their final match against Malaysia on Tuesday.

In Southeast Asian beach soccer, Vietnam, with one title and two runner-up finishes, are ranked above Malaysia, which have one title and one runner-up finish. 

The level between the two teams is nearly equal.

The AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup 2025, held in Pattaya, Thailand from March 20 to 30, features 16 teams.

This is Vietnam’s second appearance in the tournament, having previously qualified in 2015 but failing to advance past the group stage after losing all three matches.

In this year’s tournament, Vietnam are in Group D with Oman, the 2015 champions, Bahrain, the 2006 champions, and Malaysia, which reached the quarterfinals in 2019.

In their opening match, Vietnam lost 1-7 to Oman last Friday.

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