Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam lost to Thailand 2-3 in the penalty shootout,following a goalless draw in the official time to rank fourth in the AFCWomen’s Futsal Championship 2018 on May 12, which was held at the Hua Mak Gymnasium inBangkok.

Thailand’s goalkeeper Pannipa Kamolrat was theeventual hero, saving Nguyen Thi Hue’s effort in the shootout, beforeHataichanok Tappakun sealed the victory with the decisive spot kick.

In the mean time, Vietnam playeddefence-attack. They surprised the hosts and, if luck had been with them, theycould score a goal.

In the first half, Nguyen Thi Thanh hadtwo spectacular shots, but she did not defeat goalkeeper Pannipa.

Another Vietnamese counter-attack nearlydecided the match, with just over one minute to go, but Trinh Nguyen Thanh Hangcould not reach the ball after she rounded Pannipa.

It was Pannipa who again stepped up tobecome the match winner in the penalty shootout, producing an excellent save toblock Vietnam’s first penalty before Darika Peanpailun, Jenjira Bubpha andHataichanok Tappakun each powered home their spot kicks to secure a partinggift for the home fans.

“Due to losing in the event’ssemi-final, Thailand entered this game with the determination of winning thebronze medal. Vietnam also carefully researched Thailand’s style of playing.Today, Vietnamese players performed very well, they knew their rival’s tactics,and they were more confident compared to the semi-finals match [in which Vietnamwas defeated 0-5 by Iran],” said Vietnamese head coach Truong Quoc Tuan.

“There are many young talents in Vietnam’sline-up at this year’s event. Vietnam reached the AFC event’s top four. I thinkthat’s a great advance for the team,” said Tuan.

“During the event, the gap betweenThailand and Vietnam has narrowed. We only lost to them in the penaltyshootout. That is good luck in football,” Tuan added.

Meanwhile, Thailand head coach UdomTaveesuk said his players were very tired after competing in difficult games.

“You can see our players are very tiredand their bodies could not reach the same level after our very hard gameagainst Japan and the games before. Last night, we asked for an extra physioand more staff to help the players recover,” said Udom on the website the-afc.com.

“Thank you to the players for producingthat effort, despite how tired they were, and being able to reach third place.But our target was to be the champions, so I’d like to say sorry to our fans.Regarding the whole tournament, I can’t say I’m happy about the result. Aftersuccess at the SEA Games and Asian Indoor Games wins last year, I targeted thebest for Thailand.

“We will learn from this and train tomake our players better in the future. I must also improve tactically and teachthe players to understand more. We can reach our targets if we do this. We willstart a women’s futsal league in July, so hopefully that will help us developand find more talent.”-VNA