Proud past
Thailand is the Southeast Asian football nation with the best results at the U.17 Asian Cup. The young team from the land of the golden pagodas won the tournament in 1998, was runner-up in 1996, and finished third in 1985.
U.17 Vietnam is ready to conquer the U.17 Asian Cup
Photo: VFF
Thailand's achievement of winning the U.17 Asian Championship once is on par with a series of leading Asian football nations such as Qatar, Iran, Iraq and Uzbekistan. Thailand is only behind the 2-time championship achievements of Oman, Saudi Arabia, China, North Korea, South Korea, and the 4-time championship achievements of U.17 Japan.
The other two representatives of Southeast Asian football, participating in this year’s U.17 Asian Cup, Indonesia and Vietnam, also have some very impressive achievements in the past. Indonesia reached the semi-finals once in 1990, while Vietnam reached the semi-finals once in 2000. That was the period when the young generation of players such as Pham Van Quyen, Phan Nhu Thuat, Nguyen Anh Cuong, Nguyen Minh Duc… became a phenomenon of Vietnamese football.
At the 2000 U.17 Asian Cup in Da Nang (then called the U.16 Cup), the Vietnam U.17 team under the leadership of coach Nguyen Van Thinh defeated Nepal 5-0, won China 3-2, drew Myanmar 1-1, only lost to Japan 0-2 in the group stage, then the team won the right to enter the semi-finals.
Will there be a new Pham Van Quyen in U.17 Vietnam?
After making an impression at the 2000 U.17 Asian Cup, players Pham Van Quyen and Nguyen Minh Duc continued to make great contributions to the silver medal at the 22nd SEA Games in 2003 at home. Center back Nguyen Minh Duc was later a member of the Vietnamese team that won the 2008 AFF Cup.
Coach Cristiano Roland recreates the achievement of the Vietnam U.17 team in 2000.
Photo: VFF
Vietnam’s achievement of reaching the semi-finals of the AFC U17 Championship is even equal to the best achievement that Australian youth football has ever had in this tournament. In the history of their participation in the AFC U17 Championship, the kangaroo country’s youth football has only gone as far as the semi-finals. They have reached this stage 3 times in 2010, 2014 and 2018. However, Australia’s U17 has never gone further than the semi-finals.
Reviewing the above achievements, we can see that Southeast Asian football in general and Vietnamese football in particular are not too inferior to the major football teams of Asia, at the continental U.17 tournament. The Vietnamese U.17 team can be completely confident when facing the same-age team from Australia in the match taking place tonight (April 4), in the group stage of the 2025 Asian U.17 tournament. At the age of 17, Australian football is not too strong, young Australian players are not better than Vietnamese players in terms of experience, technique and cunning in handling situations.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thong-ke-bat-ngo-tai-u17-chau-a-viet-nam-ngang-voi-uc-se-co-van-quyen-moi-18525040413510355.htm
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