U.17 Vietnam 'shocks' Korean press, Japanese media gives compliments

Vietnam U.17 team creates attraction in Korea

On the evening of April 8 (Vietnam time), the U.17 Vietnam team played extremely bravely to get a 1-1 draw against the U.17 Japan team in the second match of the group stage of the 2025 AFC U-17 Championship. Chosun Sports reported on this match with an article titled: "Japanese football suffers great shame after a shocking draw against U.17 Vietnam".

In this article, Chosun Sports ' writer shared: "The Japanese U.17 team defeated the UAE U.17 team with a score of 4-1 but only had a 1-1 draw with the Vietnam U.17 team in the second match. The Japanese team took the lead with a goal by Yoshida Minato in the 13th minute of the first half, but could not score any more goals, and let Tran Gia Bao equalize from the penalty spot in injury time, right before the end of the match.

The Japanese U17 team, with 1 win and 1 draw (4 points), still maintains its top position in Group B but still cannot get a ticket to the quarterfinals early. If they lose to the Australian U17 team and the UAE U17 team wins the Vietnamese U17 team in the final round, the Japanese U17 team can say goodbye to the tournament right from the group stage."

This article was reposted by Korea's leading information search portal Naver. Notably, this article ranked 2nd in the list of most read sports articles on Naver. This is also understandable because Korean public opinion has been very interested in Vietnamese football for many years, after the success of coach Park Hang-seo and now Kim Sang-sik. In addition, the two football teams of Japan and Korea are also "big rivals" of each other in Asia. Therefore, the information that the U.17 Vietnam team drew with the Japanese team received attention.

U.17 Vietnam 'shocked' Korean press, Japanese media gave compliments - Photo 1.

The U.17 Vietnam team played bravely until the last minute to get a valuable draw, keeping the chance to win a ticket to the U.17 World Cup finals. After two matches, U.17 Vietnam was praised.

PHOTO: VFF

U.17 Vietnam 'shocked' Korean press, Japanese media gave compliments - Photo 2.

News of Vietnam U.17 team drawing 1-1 with Japan ranked 2nd in the most viewed sports news section.

PHOTO: NAVER

Thai reporter praises U.17 Vietnam

In addition, the Thai press, including the famous SiamSport newspaper , also gave many compliments to the performance of the Vietnam U.17 team. Reporter Tuntat Vinitmanon of Thairath channel shared with Thanh Nien Newspaper : "Our topic today is the Vietnam U.17 team. The Thai media has given you a lot of compliments. We all really like the performance of the young Vietnamese players. Those were enthusiastic runs with burning passion, full of energy, desire and great team spirit. The Thailand U.17 team does not have those things. Once again, congratulations to the Vietnam U.17 team. I hope you will win a ticket to the World Cup."

Meanwhile, the Japanese press was relatively quiet after a disappointing draw for the home team. Famous sports newspapers such as Nikkan Sports , Sports Nippon ... simply reported and described the match without much comment. Some magazines expressed concern that if Japan U.17 was not careful, they could still be at a disadvantage. This magazine praised Vietnam U.17 as a highly organized team, so even though "U.17 played not badly, they still could not beat an opponent who played too well".

One of the few Japanese news sites that commented and analyzed this draw was Soccer Digest . This news site commented: "The Japanese U.17 team had difficulty against Vietnam's smart defense. They could not exploit the space behind the opponent's defense and had difficulty implementing the style of play they wanted. Despite opening the score early after a corner kick, the Japanese U.17 team could not penetrate the defense of the Vietnamese U.17 team in the rest of the match. The problem was not that the Japanese U.17 team played badly that day, but that the Vietnamese U.17 team played well. Each player on the opposing team had good individual skills and the team was also very well organized. If this generation of players maintains this momentum, they can become a formidable opponent for the Japanese U.17 team."

On the morning of April 8 local time, the U.17 Vietnam players continued to maintain their training pace and recover their physical condition after the match with U.17 Japan.

Players who do not/are not used to playing much are given specialized physical training exercises in the gym to help maintain their form and readiness for competition.

Meanwhile, the main players were able to relax and recover in the pool area to regenerate energy and reduce pressure on their muscles after the intense match.

With a serious and disciplined spirit, the whole team is making every effort to prepare best for the final match of the group stage against U.17 UAE, a match that coach Cristiano Roland and his team must win to open the door to the quarterfinals.

At 9pm today Vietnam time, the team will return to the training ground in Taif.

U.17 Vietnam 'shocked' Korean press, Japanese media gave compliments - Photo 3.