Why did Vietnam receive a penalty against Malaysia?

59 minutes, Van Hau chased Azam Azmi down to the edge of the Malaysian goal, but could not touch the ball. When Azam Azmi cleared the ball, Van Hau pressed down, causing both of them to fall out of bounds. While standing up, the defender of the away team used his foot to step on Van Hau, causing him to cry out in pain. Japanese referee Ryuji Sato looked straight at the collision, and after a moment of hesitation decided to give Vietnam a penalty. At that time, the host led 1-0 but had to play without people with Nguyen Van Toan's red card in the first half.

The Malaysian player responded to the referee and after about two minutes, Mr. Sato called the line referee Jun Mihara to consult. After conferring with the assistant, the referee showed a red card directly, displacing Azam Azmi. Center-back Que Ngoc Hai took a penalty kick to the lower right corner, opposite the direction of goalkeeper Syihan Hazmi, helping Vietnam lead 2-0.

Former VFF referee Duong Van Hien explained that Mr. Sato did not think Van Hau had fouled Azam Azmi before. The 21-year-old defender stepped on Van Hau to retaliate. According to the rules, the ball is still in play, so even if the foul takes place outside the field of play, the point of free kick is also pulled to the nearest place in the field. In this case, the free kick point was pulled into the penalty area, so Vietnam was awarded a penalty. The referee also showed Azam Azmi a red card for a behavioral foul.

Article 14 of the FIFA football rules on penalties also states: "When the ball is live, a player or team member fouls an opponent or the referees outside the field, the point of free kick will be on the touchline near the place of the foul. best".

Vietnam opened the scoring against Malaysia thanks to striker Nguyen Tien Linh's header in the 28th minute. But in the 32nd minute, striker Nguyen Van Toan received a second yellow card, which means a red card, and was disqualified. In the 83rd minute, Nguyen Quang Hai poked a slot for Nguyen Hoang Duc to hit the ball past the goalkeeper to set a 3-0 victory for Vietnam.

In the fourth round of Group B on December 30, Vietnam was a guest on the field of Singapore, while Malaysia was given a break.