Vietnam’s first real test at ASEAN Cup 2026 comes fast. After beating Timor Leste 7-0 on 24/7, Vietnam is now set to face Singapore in the third round of the group stage, with Nguyễn Đình Bắc fresh off a hat-trick and the defending champions looking to turn a flying start into something more durable.
That is why the search now is about Vietnam Vs Singapore, not the opener. Nguyễn Đình Bắc scored three times, Nguyễn Xuân Son and Đỗ Hoàng Hên added three more between them, and Vietnam put five goals past Timor Leste before halftime. The scoreline was ruthless enough to announce intent, but the next match will say more about whether that intent can survive a tighter game.
Kim Sang-sik called Singapore a “chung kết” before the match, a sign that Vietnam sees this as more than another group fixture. He also wants the opposition to feel the strength of the champion. That warning lands against a simple record: Vietnam has won nine, drawn nine and lost four in 20 meetings with Singapore, and its most recent defeat in the rivalry came in the 1998 Tiger Cup final.
The recent meetings lean Vietnam’s way even harder. In the ASEAN Cup 2024 semifinal, Vietnam won 2-0 away and then 3-1 at home, showing the gap can open quickly when the match turns in its favor. Now the path runs through a Singapore side that has already beaten Campuchia and Timor Leste to top Group A, and has leaned on Song Ui-yong, Kyoga Nakamura, Shawal Anuar, Ilhan Fandi and Izwan Mahbud to get there.
But those wins have not settled the question around Singapore. Two victories can lift a table, yet they do not by themselves prove control against a stronger opponent. The concern is still there in how the chances have been finished and how the back line has held up, and that is where Vietnam’s opening surge becomes relevant: one team has shown ruthless efficiency, the other has shown enough to lead the group but not enough to remove doubt.
Fandi framed the stakes plainly, saying a win over Vietnam would create strong momentum for the decisive match against Indonesia. That is the thread running through Group A now. If Singapore can slow Vietnam, the group opens up. If Vietnam can reproduce anything close to the intensity it showed against Timor Leste, then the discussion shifts toward control of the section and the trip to Indonesia on 3/8.
Vietnam also carries a kind of memory that matters here. The team is expected to return to Mỹ Đình after two years of playing at local grounds, and it has won the AFF Cup there in 2008 and 2018. For Kim Sang-sik, it is his first time coaching at the stadium. For Nguyễn Đình Bắc, it is the kind of stage that can turn a hat-trick into a statement, and for Vietnam, the real work starts now.
