Tien Linh was compensated with a "genuine" medal by AFF Cup, suddenly went on social media to "expos.e" Hoang Duc

Recently, Tien Linh encountered a "half-laughing, half-crying" incident when he was mistakenly awarded the medal of the second-placed team of the AFF Cup 2024. The noteworthy thing here is that he did not know that he received "defective goods".

After lifting the championship trophy with the Vietnam national team, Nguyen Tien Linh had to contact the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) to ask the AFF Cup 2024 organizing committee to exchange his gold medal. The reason was that the medal the striker born in 1997 received had the words "runner up" engraved on it, instead of "champion" like his other teammates. This was a rare mistake from the tournament organizing committee.

Notably, when the organizers awarded the medal, Tien Linh himself did not realize this. He and his teammates celebrated the championship and lifted the cup as usual. The Vietnamese team striker still held the medal and took a photo to show off on his personal page.

It was not until netizens pointed out the unusual thing in Tien Linh's photo that the male player discovered it. So where did his medal go? At this time, social networks appeared with images claiming that the organizers mistakenly engraved another medal with the word "champion", but in silver (which is the color of the runner-up). And the medal was awarded to Pansa Hemviboon of Thailand.

However, this is untrue and the image has been photoshopped. According to verified information, the original image is the gold medal of Vietnamese player Vu Van Thanh, but it has been edited into a silver medal and Pansa Hemviboon's image has been added to cause confusion among the public.

Pansa Hemviboon is a name that has been mentioned a lot after the second leg of the AFF Cup 2024 final. In the 83rd minute of the match, in an effort to defend, he accidentally scored an own goal, helping the Vietnamese team tie the score 2-2, thereby creating momentum for the "golden star warriors" to win the championship.

This mistake caused Pansa Hemviboon to face a wave of fierce criticism from a part of Thai fans. Under pressure from public opinion, the male player's wife spoke up to defend her husband on social media. Now, the story of mistakenly receiving a medal has pushed this guy to the forefront of the storm. Fortunately, everything has been cleared up.

Regarding Tien Linh's faulty medal, the VFF said it had responded to the 27-year-old striker's request to the tournament's organizing committee. According to Vietnamnet, the AFF Cup organizing committee has apologized and said it will give the correct gold medal back to the striker. They also confirmed that they will pay all production and transportation costs and give the new gold medal, with the correct words "Champion" engraved on it, to the Vietnamese striker.

However, as the new medal has to be produced from scratch and shipped from overseas, Tien Linh may have to wait a while longer to receive his medal. It is expected that this will be completed after the Lunar New Year.

Tien Linh is the only case of the wrong medal incident. This caused surprise in the team because the medals are printed in different shapes and colors, so it is difficult to make a mistake. At the AFF Cup 2024, he is the second scorer of the Vietnamese team after Xuan Son (with 4 goals).

Putting aside the issue of the wrong medal, on Hoang Duc's 27th birthday (January 11), Tien Linh shared on his personal page a photo with his teammates along with a humorous congratulatory message. "I've never heard of him! Every time he sleeps, he will never have an opponent! Every opponent is always afraid of him when he sleeps! The player with the most selfish lifestyle in Vietnamese football. Let me introduce Hoang Duc," the striker born in 1997 wrote.

Tien Linh's post quickly attracted 10,000 likes after only 20 minutes of posting. In the comment section, Hoang Duc also quickly responded: "Thank you, the most selfish brother in Vietnam. Live with your teammates, don't play alone anymore. Love forever". The "exposure" back and forth between Tien Linh and Hoang Duc made many people excited, leaving comments teasing the duo.

Đội tuyển Việt Nam lên kế hoạch dự World Cup, VFF muốn có nhiều Xuân Son? Hoàng Phúc17:09:42 09/01/2025Hướng tới các mục tiêu lớn hơn sau chức vô địch AFF Cup, LĐBĐVN (VFF) sẵn sàng tạo điều kiện để ĐT Việt Nam bổ sung những cầu thủ nhập tịch có khát khao cống hiến sau trường hợp của Nguyễn Xuân Son.