U17 Vietnam and the journey to make a historic mark at the U17 Asian tournament

On the evening of November 30, coach Cristiano Roland and his team made history by defeating U17 Malaysia in the final round of the U17 Asian Cup qualifiers with a score of 4-0, thereby becoming one of the four representatives from Southeast Asia to make it to the final round taking place in Saudi Arabia next year.

Among the Southeast Asian teams participating in the final round, except for Indonesia, who did not have to play in the qualifying round (because Indonesia had already won the right to enter the 2025 U17 World Cup), the ticket of U17 Vietnam was the most convincing when coach Cristiano Roland's team won all 5 qualifying matches, scored 30 goals and did not concede any.

Notably, the Vietnam U17 team was one of only two teams to qualify without conceding a goal. The best team in the tournament was the China U17 team, who won all 5 group stage matches, scored 42 goals and did not concede a single goal.

U17 Vietnam "sows sorrow" with Malaysia

In fact, the journey to conquer the ticket to the 2026 Asian Cup finals of U17 Vietnam only has one main opponent to overcome, which is U17 Malaysia. The biggest advantage of U17 Vietnam is that it is in a group with opponents that are not highly rated such as Northern Mariana Islands, Macau (China), Singapore and Hong Kong (China). Only U17 Malaysia is considered a direct competitor for the only ticket in Group C.

As predicted by experts, U17 Malaysia showed their true strength when they won all 4 matches before entering the final round against U17 Vietnam. Coach Javier Jorda Ribera's team somewhat made U17 Vietnam worry when they knew how to win big against weak opponents like the Northern Mariana Islands with a score of 13-0, or in difficult times, the "Malayan Tigers" still knew how to overcome to win against Singapore or Hong Kong.

It can be said that U17 Vietnam has to both play and observe the performance of U17 Malaysia to have the best calculations when entering the final match. In addition to having to win against the lightweight opponents, coach Cristiano Roland's team also has to ensure that they do better than U17 Malaysia in the secondary index to have a certain advantage when entering the "final" match with the opponent in the final match.

It is commendable that when facing the same opponents in the same group, U17 Vietnam did better than U17 Malaysia. While Malaysia won the Northern Mariana Islands with a score of 13-0, coach Cristiano Roland and his team scored 14 goals against the weakest opponent in this group.

U17 Việt Nam và hành trình ghi dấu ấn lịch sử ở giải U17 châu Á - 3

U17 Việt Nam và hành trình ghi dấu ấn lịch sử ở giải U17 châu Á - 4

U17 Việt Nam và hành trình ghi dấu ấn lịch sử ở giải U17 châu Á - 5

And if U17 Malaysia had difficulty against Singapore or Hong Kong, U17 Vietnam still easily won both of these opponents. In the "final" match with U17 Malaysia, when many people expected U17 Vietnam to just draw, we defeated our opponent with a score that couldn't be more convincing than 4 goals difference.

It can be said that the way U17 Vietnam "finished off" Malaysia made the opponents both bitter and admiring. Bitter because they tried their best to win all 4 matches but then lost weakly in the last match. Admiring because U17 Vietnam showed that they are a team "beyond their level" compared to the remaining teams in Group C.

"U17 Vietnam has proven that they are the strongest team in the group. This team has many attacking strategies, from attacking in the middle, developing the ball from the two wings, to coordinating small. Overall, U17 Vietnam controlled the match and deserved to win," U17 Malaysia coach Javier Jorda Ribera also had to admit that his team's level was inferior to coach Cristiano Roland's team.

A very promising crop of young players

It must be emphasized that, in addition to winning tickets to the 2026 AFC U17 Championship, this generation of Vietnam U17 players brought positive signals to Vietnamese football with a performance that could not be more convincing.

The young players under the guidance of coach Cristiano Roland have shown confidence in both technique and tactics, with a diverse attacking style on both the wings and the center, something that even the national team or the U22 Vietnam team are considered to be "struggling" to do.

Young talents like Manh Cuong, Chu Ngoc Nguyen Luc, Van Duong, Sy Bach, Manh Quan with the confidence of youth are very bold in small coordination phases, not afraid of the opponent's siege to find the necessary gaps in front of the penalty area and open up scoring opportunities for the home team.

It was this ability to coordinate smoothly that was the key factor for U17 Vietnam to break down the opponent's deep defenses, overwhelming the opponent with the diverse and confident playing style that the home team implemented.

Except for the Northern Mariana Islands team, which is too weak, against opponents with tight defenses like Singapore and Malaysia, coach Cristiano Roland's team always knows how to shake the opponent's net with smooth, sudden combinations in front of the penalty area.

But the most impressive thing is the finishing ability of the U17 Vietnam players, when the U17 Vietnam team scores an average of 6 goals per match. The most commendable thing is that the U17 Vietnam team seems to have no "stars", but almost every player is ready to become a star and score for the home team.

"In my opinion, no player in my team is better than another. They are all young players and what brings success to the team is the solidarity of the team. The players are all of good quality, each player has their own strengths. Therefore, solidarity, eagerness to learn, and personal effort are the most important things," that is what coach Cristiano Roland once discussed with Dan Tri reporter about how he trains young Vietnamese talents.

"We deserved to win. My goal is to play well in every match. My training method with young players is to always prepare them for the path to take. I am very happy to bring the path that the team believes in. Today's result shows that U17 Vietnam is a strong team.

After the qualifying round, both I and the players always want to learn and gain experience. That is good for the young players. They confidently look to the future, first of all the Asian Finals. In the near future, the U17 Vietnam players will return to their clubs and continue to try to train hard," said coach Cristiano Roland after the victory over U17 Malaysia.

U17 Vietnam has a good "captain"

When mentioning the victory of U17 Vietnam, we also need to mention the contribution of coach Cristiano Roland, as this is the second consecutive time he has helped the U17 team participate in the final round of the Asian tournament.

Last October, the Brazilian strategist made a great contribution when helping U17 Vietnam win a ticket to the 2025 AFC U17 Championship finals as one of the 5 best second-placed teams. At that time, U17 Vietnam ranked behind Yemen, earning 4 points to get through the narrow door to the final round.

Less than a year later, the next generation of Vietnam U17s led by coach Cristiano Roland continued to win tickets to the 2026 AFC U17 Championship, but with a much more impressive achievement, finishing first in the group with a record of scoring 30 goals and not conceding any.

It can be said that Coach Roland is very passionate about Vietnamese youth football as he spends a lot of time helping and supporting VFF in training young football players. The Brazilian strategist has lived in Vietnam long enough to understand the culture, history and people of Vietnam, having been attached to the S-shaped country for 18 years, including 12 consecutive years of living and working.

This time of attachment helps the 1976-born coach consider Vietnam as his second homeland and put all his heart and love into Vietnamese youth football - something that any Football Federation wants when hiring a foreign coach to lead.

"As a coach, I always try to help the players prepare well in terms of tactics, specific situations in the match, and know how to achieve the best results.

We deserved what we achieved. The whole team showed its strength. As I said from the beginning, our mindset was always focused on each game. I made a plan and showed the players the way to execute it. They did their job well.

I am a happy coach. The players are really great. The whole team deserves to be congratulated. Today's result proves that we are a very strong team," coach Roland modestly expressed after his achievement.

Coach Cristiano Roland was born in 1976, Brazilian nationality. As a player, Cristiano Roland started his career at Gremio Club (Brazil) and moved to Vasco da Gama in 1996. A year later, he and the team won the Brazilian national championship.

In 1998, he signed for Portuguese club Beira Mar, winning the Portuguese Cup with the club in 1999 before moving to Benfica in 2002, where he won another Portuguese Cup in 2004. In 2007, Cristiano Roland moved to the V-League and played for Hanoi T&T (the predecessor of Hanoi FC), contributing greatly to the team winning 2 V-League championships in 2010 and 2013 and 1 National Super Cup. The former Benfica midfielder has a category A coaching license issued by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

At the youth level, he managed U9 to U19 teams at clubs in Portugal and Luxembourg. In 2019, he worked as an assistant to coach Phan Thanh Hung at Binh Duong Club. After that, Mr. Cristiano Roland took charge of the U15 and U17 teams of Hanoi Club as well as joined the coaching staff of Vietnam U16.

U17 Vietnam "sows sorrow" with Malaysia

A very promising crop of young players

U17 Vietnam has a good "captain"

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