Defending champions unexpectedly lose opening day match

Before the tournament, Head Coach of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Physical Education and Sports Pham Thai Vinh commented: "The THACO Cup 2025 Youth Football Tournament will be very unpredictable, because all teams have invested and prepared very carefully. Therefore, any surprise can happen."

This happened right in the opening match of the defending champion team, when they faced their fateful opponent, Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport (UT) yesterday afternoon (December 28). In the match considered the "early final" of group 1, group E - qualifying round of Ho Chi Minh City, the team of Ho Chi Minh City University of Physical Education and Sports, although being rated much higher, unexpectedly lost 0-2 to the team of Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport.

Đương kim vô địch bất ngờ thua trận ngày mở màn- Ảnh 1. — The defending champion team of Ho Chi Minh City University of Physical Education and Sports *(left)* unexpectedly lost in the opening match.

The Ho Chi Minh City University of Physical Education and Sports team will be missing its main striker Nguyen Minh Nhat in the 2025 season. This striker was one of the most outstanding players in the 2023 and 2024 seasons, and won the Golden Boot twice.

On the other hand, the Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport team, after regretfully missing out on a ticket to the play-off in the 2024 qualifying round, has been determined and has been preparing hard for nearly a year. The efforts have been rewarded as the team has shown remarkable progress and made an impressive comeback with a victory over the defending champions in the first match.

The two teams played a tight match and tied 0-0 after the first half. In the second half, in just two sharp counterattacks, the Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport team scored two goals, scored by Truong Ho Ngoc Quy (penalty) and Nguyen Anh Thu respectively. With this result, the Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport team has a big advantage in the race for a ticket to the next round.

After the victory, Coach Ho Van Lung happily said: "We are very happy with the victory on the opening day against a strong opponent and directly competing for a ticket to the next round. But there are still 2 more matches in the qualifying round, the team of Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport needs to continue trying, consider each match as the final match, and must win to be sure of a ticket to the next round".

Coach Pham Thai Vinh said: "The situation is extremely difficult. We lost the opening match to a direct competitor and lost the right to decide for ourselves. Now, we just hope that the results of the remaining matches in the group will have surprises, for example, the Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport team loses the next match and we have to win the remaining matches to have a chance."

The remaining two matches of yesterday's competition were also very exciting. In Group A, the Saigon Polytechnic College team made an excellent comeback to defeat the University of Finance and Marketing with a score of 2-1. Meanwhile, the final match of the day in Group B between the University of Economics and Finance, Ho Chi Minh City and the Hung Vuong University, Ho Chi Minh City witnessed a dramatic chase. The University of Economics and Finance, Ho Chi Minh City won 4-2.