Vietnam’s national U-23 football team is keeping the door to the AFC U-23 Championship’s quarterfinals wide open after surprisingly defeating Australia 1-0 on Sunday. Thanks to a defensive strategy, a 72nd minute goal from Quang Hai and a touch of luck, Vietnam’s youngsters achieved a convincing victory and climbed to second place in group D. Meanwhile Australia, a title contender, dropped to third place and faces elimination. If the Vietnamese team could remain in the group’s top two, it would be the first Southeast Asian team in the history of the championship to enter the quarterfinals. Thailand, the only other team from the region to participate in the group stage this year, has already been eliminated after losing both matches it has played. In the last round next Wednesday, Vietnam would play against the group’s last-place Syria, while Australia would face the first-place South Korea. As Vietnam was considered the underdog before the match, the team’s victory came as a surprise to many and has been widely celebrated by the Vietnamese fans. “I want to dedicate this victory to the Vietnamese people. I promised to create something special and I’ve done it, but this is only the beginning,” Vietnam’s head coach Park Hang-Seo said. Last November, Park already made history with Vietnamese football after securing for the national team a ticket to the finals of the AFC Asian Cup for the first time since 2007. AFC U-23 Championship is a biennial international age-restricted football championship organized by the Asian Football… [Read full story]
(Cinet)- Vietnam has a chance to compete in the final round of the Asian Cup 2019 thanks to some changes of the AFC. The AFC said that 24 teams would compete at the final round instead of the current 16. This means 8 additional teams will have the opportunity to qualify for the biggest football festival in Asia. As many as 20 teams will compete at the Asian Cup 2015 qualifiers, and the number will be increased to 32 in the following year. Twelve group winners will vie for tickets to the World Cup. The remaining 20 teams will clash…... [read more]
Vietnamese striker Nguyen Van Toan (left) vies for a ball against Milad Salem of Afghanistan during their Asian Cup qualifier yesterday in Hanoi (Photo: VNA) However, the Afghanistan team did not let that happen, holding Vietnam to a goalless draw in the Group C of the 2019 Asian Cup qualification in Hanoi on November 14th. The visitors did an even better job than what their coach Otto Pfister had planned. “It is a pity that we could not grab three points from this match. My players did not play as well as they did in training,” Park said at the…... [read more]
Vietnamese striker Nguyen Van Toan (left) vies for a ball against Milad Salem of Afghanistan during their Asian Cup qualifier yesterday in Hanoi — VNS Photo The visitors did an even better job than what their coach Otto Pfister had planned.Afghanistan played a pressing game at high speed when it was half way into the first half. They had two chances by Haroon Fakhrudin and Milad Salem near the break but keeper Mạnh denied all.The second half was even worse for the hosts when they had to resist consecutive attempts from Afghanistan, especially in 10 last minutes. Meanwhile the host…... [read more]
Vietnam suffers first loss in Women's Asian Cup finals The Vietnamese women could not build on their previous 3-1 victory over Jordan in the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup knock-out stage as they lost 0-4 to defending world champions Japan in their second Group A tie on Friday, May 16. The Vietnamese side played a solid defence throughout the whole match, which proved effective, with goalie Kieu Trinh's net kept empty in the first 40 minutes. Japan proved themselves as world champions by ultimately finding ways past a resilient Vietnam rearguard in the last minutes of the first half. Midfielder…... [read more]
Vietnam lost 1-0 to Syria in their group D first leg game on Nov. 14, severely damaging their chances of qualifying for the final round of the Asian Cup. Playing on home turf and with the support of the fans behind them, Vietnam attacked from the opening whistle. The first chance fell to the hosts in the 14 th minute, Tan Tai overcame the challenges of the visitor's defenders to pass the ball to captain Minh Phuong who hit the post with only the keeper to beat. After a slow start, Syria started to get into the game but it…... [read more]
