[Anchor]

The Vietnamese national football team, led by head coach Kim Sang-sik, defeated Malaysia in the first leg of the semifinals of the Mitsubishi Electric Cup—often called the "World Cup of Southeast Asia"—extending their unbeaten streak in A-matches to 23 games. Vietnam will advance to the final for the third consecutive time if they even draw the second leg at home.

Reporter Hong Seok-jun has the details.

[Reporter]

After weathering fierce attacks from the home team Malaysia through a series of desperate saves by their goalkeeper, Vietnam completely turned the momentum late in the first half with a single strike.

Following a long ball sent behind the flank defense, which was brought down with a flawless first touch before delivering a sharp cross, naturalized Brazilian player Nguyen Xuan Son threw his body forward to head it home.

Head coach Kim Sang-sik, who rarely cracked a smile despite the fantastic goal, finally broke into a bright grin in the 41st minute of the second half.

When an opposing defender lunged to intercept a pass, the ball fortuitously deflected toward the goal, resulting in a fortunate own goal.

With a 2-0 victory cheered on by Coach Kim, Vietnam extended its unbeaten run in A-matches to 23 games and claimed a favorable position, needing only a draw in the second leg at home the day after tomorrow (the 19th) to reach the final for the third straight time.

[Kim Sang-sik / Head Coach, Vietnam National Football Team: It is true that I was unsatisfied with the performance, but please let everyone know that even though it didn't show on my face at the time, I was happy inside when Xuan Son scored that wonderful header.]

Coach Kim emphasized that he would not let his guard down in the second leg as he marches toward a second consecutive championship.

[Kim Sang-sik / Head Coach, Vietnam National Football Team: It is a 2-0 score, but we are going into it with the mindset that 'the first half has just ended,' and we will make sure to show an even better performance in the next match.]

(Video Editing: Hwang Ji-young, Design: Seo Hyun-jung)