U.17 Vietnam could not win on the opening day of Group I of the 2025 AFC U.17 qualifiers. At Phu Tho Stadium, coach Cristiano Roland's students, despite controlling the game, attacking continuously and creating many opportunities, could not penetrate the net of U.17 Kyrgyzstan.
Being held to a draw by the Central Asian team could not help U.17 Vietnam have a perfect opening day. Because in the remaining match, U.17 Yemen won 6-1 against U.17 Myanmar to take the top spot in the group. After the first round, U.17 Yemen is in the lead with 3 points, goal difference +5.
U.17 Vietnam and U.17 Kyrgyzstan are behind with 1 point, goal difference 0. U.17 Myanmar is at the bottom with 0 points, goal difference -5.
U.17 Vietnam dropped 2 points on the opening day
In the next match, U.17 Vietnam will face U.17 Myanmar at 7:00 p.m. on October 25. Meanwhile, U.17 Yemen will face U.17 Kyrgyzstan at 4:00 p.m.
The 2025 AFC U-17 Championship qualifiers initially featured 43 teams and were drawn into 10 groups, with seven groups of four teams and three groups of five. The top 10 teams from each group, along with the five best runners-up, will advance to the finals, along with host Saudi Arabia.
However, according to a recent announcement by AFC, the U.17 Lebanon team will not participate due to objective reasons, so Group H only has 3 teams left: U.17 Laos, U.17 Malaysia and U.17 UAE.
This causes changes in the calculation of points for the second-placed teams. Specifically, for groups of 4 teams (such as the group of U.17 Vietnam), the second-placed team's performance against the bottom team will not be counted. For groups of 5 teams, the second-placed team's performance against the 4th and 5th-placed teams in the group will not be considered.
Therefore, to ensure a ticket to the next round, U.17 Vietnam needs to win the group title. If they finish second and have to compare the goal difference with other second-placed teams, U.17 Vietnam may fall into the same situation as U.20 Vietnam: having to stop at the qualifying round.
However, the right to self-determination is still in the hands of U.17 Vietnam. If they win the remaining 2 matches, coach Roland and his team will have a ticket to the final round.
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