2 : 1
It is not difficult to reach Thong Nhat Stadium, as it is located not far from the center of Saigon, in District 10. Opened in 1931, it was originally named Renault Field, in honor of the chairman of the municipal committee managing the city at that time. By the end of the 1950s, artificial lighting was installed, and the current name of the stadium, which in Vietnamese means Reunification, it was granted on September 2, 1975. The facility can officially accommodate 14,000 spectators, and although one of the central stands is out of use (probably for safety reasons), there is no worry that all the tickets will be sold out.
On the matchday, I came across the HCMC club shop in the city, but it was closed tight – it is probably only open on weekdays, and the match was scheduled for Saturday evening. There were no problems with the tickets – 25,000 dong per person at the stadium box office. Before the match, my friend and I enjoyed a few beers at the bar across the street, among the fans, predominantly young people, including beautiful girls. Doping may not be the loudest, but flags and drums are the norm. A quite large group of fans from Hanoi arrived in Saigon, and it is worth mentioning that the two cities are about 1500 km apart.
The sporting level of the event turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It is evident that the players of both teams take football seriously. The match initially proceeded under the control of the hosts, who took the lead after the shot by the Estonian Sorga, a few minutes later the equalizer came, and it seemed that the guests would take all the points from Hanoi. However, football is capricious, and HCMC scored the winning goal – quite a rare beauty, Bùi Ngọc Long took a shot from almost a zero angle. This is not the only match in the V.League 1 I saw live in November 2024, a few days later I went to the stadium in Binh Duong.
