"Nguyen Xuan Son was once again the star of the show as Vietnam defeated Thailand 2-1 in the first leg of the final.

This is a result that will give them a lot of confidence in their efforts to avenge the "War Elephants" from the 2022 final," the AFF homepage praised striker Xuan Son when voting him as one of the 4 best players after the first leg of the AFF Cup final on January 2.

In the content, AFC emphasized the impressive performance of the Brazilian striker since playing for the Vietnamese team at the AFF Cup 2024.

"Xuan Son opened the scoring in the 59th minute at Viet Tri Stadium with a header, before continuing to score with a remarkable personal mark in the 73rd minute to help the Vietnamese team assert control of the match against the reigning champions Thailand and almost certainly touch the title of top scorer of the tournament.

The two goals in the first leg took Xuan Son's tally to seven in just four games against Vietnam and Thailand will need to come up with a plan to stop the striker if they want to have a chance of defending their AFF Cup title," commented AFF .

Notably, in addition to Xuan Son, defender Van Thanh of the Vietnamese team was also honored by AFF after the first leg of the final. It was the defender of the Hanoi Police Club who made a beautiful header to assist Xuan Son to score the opening goal.

"Van Thanh's biggest contribution in the first leg was the assist that opened the scoring in the 59th minute. Van Thanh received a pass from Quang Hai and headed the ball back into the penalty area for Xuan Son to score an easy goal, helping the Vietnamese team take a deserved and important lead in the match," AFF emphasized.

Notably, two Thai players on this list are goalkeeper Patiwat Khammai and striker Suphanat Mueanta. Suphanat was the one who created the assist for Chalermsak Aukkee to score the equalizer 1-2 while goalkeeper Khammai made many excellent saves.

The second leg final between Vietnam and Thailand will take place at Rajamangala Stadium at 8pm on January 5.