In the 60th minute of the opening group B match at Rajamangala Stadium on 3/12, forward Nguyen Dinh Bac dribbled into the penalty area before shooting into the far corner, scoring against Laos.

After scoring the second goal of the match, the forward from Cong an Ha Noi Club ran to celebrate. However, assistant referee Sanjar Shayusupov raised his flag for offside, leaving him stunned.

As the tournament did not use VAR technology, the referees had a lengthy discussion.

After their discussion, the referees awarded the goal to Vietnam. At this point, forward Nguyen Dinh Bac and his teammates finally had a real chance to celebrate.

Forward Nguyen Thanh Nhan immediately ran towards the assistant referee to protest. Assistant referee Shayusupov seemingly penalized Nguyen Quoc Viet as the Vietnam forward was in an offside position, stood in the path of the ball, and potentially obstructed the Laos goalkeeper's view.

On the sideline, Coach Kim calmed down and happily shook hands with the officiating team to thank them.

Coach Kim Sang-sik initially did not participate in the discussion. But after about one minute, when the goal remained disallowed, he rushed towards the referees, shouting loudly, despite attempts by his assistant and the 4th official to intervene. Coach Kim's fiery behavior resulted in him receiving a yellow card.

This marked the third time the South Korean coach had been penalized since joining Vietnamese football. The first occasion was during the first leg of the ASEAN Cup 2024 (formerly AFF Cup) semi-final between Vietnam and Singapore on 26/12/2024, also for protesting a disallowed goal by forward Nguyen Xuan Son (which was later awarded).

The second time was in the U23 Southeast Asia Championship 2025 final against Indonesia on 29/7. He received a card for obstructing an Indonesian player from taking a throw-in in the final minutes of the match. He later bowed and apologized to the referee.

Conversely, after the referees awarded the goal to Vietnam, Laos' coaching staff protested, leading to a yellow card for head coach Ha Hyeok-jun.

Ultimately, Vietnam won 2-1, rising to the top of group B. On 6/12, Laos will play Malaysia, while Vietnam will face Malaysia on 11/12. According to the regulations, with three groups, only one group winner from each group and one best second-place team will advance to the semi-finals.