Gol Tierney julang Harimau Malaya raih tempat ketiga Piala Asean

Malaysia has finally ended a 12-year wait to defeat Vietnam after securing a 1-0 victory in the third-place playoff of the 2026 Fifa Asean Cup at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta. Fergus Tierney, a substitute player, scored the decisive goal in the 62nd minute, securing Malaysia's third-place finish in the tournament. This victory marked Malaysia's first win over Vietnam since the 2014 AFF Championship semifinal.

During the match, Tan Cheng Hoe's three passes maintained the defensive barrier, while captain Dion Cools was unable to leave the bench due to family matters. Vietnam initially threatened on the attack in the first half, forcing Ahmad Syihan Hazmi to work hard in the goal. However, Malaysia nearly broke the deadlock in the 39th minute when naturalized striker Bergson da Silva's clever move was saved by Patrik Le Giang.

Kim Sang-sik equalized for Malaysia just four minutes later with a close-range penalty from Nguyen Hai Long, but Syihan quickly blocked. In the first half injury time, Ngo Dang Khoa failed to find the back of the net from the penalty spot. Vietnam continued to pressure after extra time, with Williams Minh Hoang's rebound in the 57th minute narrowly missing the target.

Malaysia then took the lead when Bergson equalized for Vietnam, but his powerful shot was deflected wide. Tierney, brought in to replace Bergson, quickly made an impact by receiving a pass from Manuel Hidalgo and skillfully saving Le Giang's goal for a 1-0 win for Malaysia. The victory also allowed Harimau Malaya to close the tournament with a positive record after narrowly missing out on a final spot based on goals scored, despite sharing points with the home team, Indonesia, in Group A Division 1.

Malaysia last defeated Vietnam 4-0 in the qualification for the 2027 Asian Cup, but the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) canceled that result and awarded a 3-0 victory to the Golden Star Warriors due to an issue with falsified documents for seven of Malaysia's players.