There’s something to be said about seeing a country come alive with pride and joy as it successfully moves through an international sporting competition. It’s why I’ve always loved the Olympics, and why I love walking the streets during the World Cup.
And such was the situation we found ourselves in during our month in Vietnam. Every now and then, we’d hear a cheer from a street cafe, usually from a group of people watching a football match. Considering how football-mad the country is, we didn’t think much of it until one night in the charming city of Hoi An. We were eating dinner at a typical food stall when a woman on a motorbike came zipping down the quiet road cheering and waving a large Vietnamese flag. Through some internet sleuthing, we determined that what we were watching was actually an international football tournament. Following dinner, we sought out a bar to watch the rest of the match unfold with locals, while also trying to figure out exactly what was happening. As we sat at a small restaurant, atop the typical short plastic stools that are de rigueur throughout Vietnam, we realized we were actually watching the later stages of the AFF Suzuki Cup and Vietnam had been faring quite well so far.
The AFF stands for the ASEAN Football Federation so it turns out we were watching was the South East Asian equivalent of the Eurocup or CONCACAF – the tournament to determine which country was the best in football for this corner of the world.
About a week later, as we made our way around the lovely mountain city of Dalat, we noticed a massive grandstand set up in what appeared to be a town square. At 7:30pm that evening, that same grandstand would be flooded with locals and tourists alike to cheer on Vietnam as they played Malaysia in the first leg of the finals (for the cup, the final is contested over two matches, so each team gets a game on their home soil).
As we rolled into the square just after the match started, we realized we had arrived too late (apparently Kuala Lumpur, where the match was being played, is an hour ahead. Know your time zones!) What appeared to be the entirety of Dalat had squeezed themselves into every available square inch of the grandstands, and more, that had a line of sight to the jumbotron. The crowd was ready and absolutely came alive when Vietnam scored first, and quite early. Dalat only has a population of less than 500,000, but it felt like all of Vietnam was there to celebrate when that ball bounced into the net. Even as non locals, it was hard to not get lost in the excitement and chants of “Vietnam!” As promising as the early goal was, the match would end in a 2-2 draw, setting up the decisive final match in Hanoi.
Our last stop in Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh City, and we structured our travel day to arrive just in time for that final match. Though the match was being played miles away, the streets of Ho Chi Minh were bursting with excitement.
We started our evening off with dinner at the Ben Thanh food market, which had numerous food vendors and several tables at which to enjoy your dining fare. It’s a great place to go to for variety, cost effectiveness, and international fare if, like we were, you might be ready for something different than Vietnamese cuisine. The only downside was that there was no TV or large screen to watch the game. Luckily, almost everyone working in the food market was streaming the game on their phone, so you could easily peek into a vendors’ stall to catch the action as they prepared your food.
After dinner, we headed to Nguyen Hue, the main pedestrian street in the center of town, where several massive jumbotrons had been set up. We managed to find a nook that, while packed, was crowded in a way that still allowed us to find a comfy corner and watch the game. And with some cold beers purchased at the local Circle K (open containers are, mercifully, not an issue anywhere we’ve traveled to in SE Asia so far), we had ourselves a party.
While I thoroughly enjoy watching football, I couldn’t really tell you what happened in the game in explicit detail. Vietnam scored first and early. It was an exciting match. But ultimately, what was the most fun for us to experience was to be in what was undoubtedly one of the most crowded streets of Ho Chi Minh City that evening, while the entire country cheered for their countrymen. Chants of “ Việt nam vô địch!” rang through the air (which roughly translates to Vietnam, the champion!); people lived and died with every kick, dive, and save; and strangers became friends as their team achieved an incredible shared goal.
After Vietnam’s victory, we headed to the Heart of Darkness Brewery around the corner, but along the way, we witnessed quite the party in the making. Children on parents’ shoulders covered in the colors and emblems of Vietnam, strangers waving hand-held flags that were being sold on every street corner, photos being taken in front of iconic Ho Chi Minh City buildings with the Vietnamese flag proudly waving in the background, and of course motorbikes. Motorbikes with flags attached, revelers waving flags from the back of motorbikes, and horns tooting along to chants of “vô địch!”
It may take some time before Vietnam makes it to the world stage of football (they have not qualified for or entered a World Cup since the country unified, though South Vietnam did qualify for the 1974 Cup), but that doesn’t seem to matter to the Vietnamese. This country is still absolutely football mad, and it was such a thrill to see it come alive during the AFF Cup.
