Planet Sport

Henrique Calisto lauded Vietnam for their patience as they stunned Singapore 1-0 to advance to the AFF Suzuki Cup final.

Singapore dominated at the National Stadium but it was the visitors who got the only goal of the game 15 minutes from time when Nguyen Quang Hai slid in to turn home Le Cong Vinh's low cross from close range.

Quang Hai's goal gave Vietnam a 1-0 aggregate win, ending Singapore's 21-match unbeaten run in the competition and sending the Vietnamese through to meet Thailand in next week's final.

"I think we deserved to go through because in both games Vietnam played well," said Calisto.

"We dominated the game in Hanoi and we had chances to score but we were unlucky.

"Here, we expected Singapore to put the pressure on our team and to try to get a quick goal. But the longer as we kept the game at 0-0, the more space opened up for us on the counter-attack.

"When Singapore replaced their right-back, that became a weak point and Cong Vinh moved to the left, waiting for his opportunity.

"We had a little bit of luck in an important moment and got the goal on a very good counter-attack and I am pleased."

Vietnam's Portuguese coach added: "I must give my congratulations to Singapore because they showed good fighting spirit and they have a very good coach.

"If they had scored one goal, then the game would have been finished and Vietnam would have had no chance because Singapore have a strong defence."

While disappointed by the loss, Singapore coach Raddy Avramovic felt that credit was due to his players for the commitment they displayed over the 90 minutes.

"What happened tonight hasn't happened very often," said the Serbian.

"I thought that we played one of our best games in this tournament and we created enough chances to win this game without any problem but if you don't put the ball into the net, then anything is possible.

"They made one or two counter-attacks in 90 minutes and they scored their goal but it counts and they won the game.

"I don't think we deserved to lose and I can't really complain about the players and their contribution in this game.

"Everyone tried hard and had the desire so I can't really complain.

"I'm sorry for the people who came out to see the game and were hoping to see us win but I'm happy with the performance of the players because you cannot complain that they didn't play their best and try to win the game.

"At the end we didn't achieve our target of reaching the final and that was more important than losing our unbeaten record."