Holding Yemen to a draw, U17 Vietnam wins ticket to the final round of the U17 Asian tournament
With a point against Yemen, the Vietnam U17 team officially won a ticket to the final round of the 2025 AFC U17 Championship.
On the evening of October 27, at Viet Tri Stadium (Phu Tho), the Vietnam U17 team entered the decisive match with Yemen U17, competing for the top spot in Group I and a direct ticket to the final round of the 2025 AFC U17 Championship.
After 2 matches (1 draw, 1 win), U17 Vietnam has 4 points, temporarily ranked second in Group I. Meanwhile, the U17 Yemen team has 6 points. With a disadvantage in terms of points, coach Cristiano Roland's students need to win to rank first in the group, thereby winning a direct ticket to the 2025 AFC U17 Finals.
Before the match with Yemen, U17 Vietnam received good news when Myanmar unexpectedly defeated Kyrgyzstan. Thus, in case they do not win the group, coach Roland and his team will have at least 3 points in the race to find 5/10 second-place teams with good results to participate in the final round.
Entering the match, having to play in rainy conditions and on a slippery field, U17 Vietnam proactively played slowly and held the ball firmly on their home field.
However, in the 13th minute, the Yemen U17 team opened the score. Player Thai Hoa lost the ball badly in the middle of the field and the away team had a delicate pass for Hamdi Abdulatef to run down and finish, defeating Xuan Tin, opening the score of the match.
Unexpectedly conceding a goal, coach Cristiano Roland's students immediately organized pressure to find an early equalizer.
The efforts of U17 Vietnam were also rewarded, when captain Viet Anh scored an equalizer 1-1. From a set piece on the right wing, Hong Phong hung the ball awkwardly into the U17 Yemen penalty area, causing goalkeeper Al Hakimi to miss the ball. Hong Quang seized the opportunity to shoot but it was blocked, Viet Anh immediately kicked the ball into the West Asian net.
After being equalized, the away team pressed forward to attack. In the 38th minute, a Yemen U17 player took a free kick outside the penalty area, the ball hit the Vietnam U17 wall and then went wide of Xuan Tin's goal post.
The first half ended in a 1-1 draw, under heavy rain at Viet Tri Stadium.
In the second half, coach Cristiano Roland made two substitutions, and U17 Yemen made one substitution. Compared to the first half, both teams played more cautiously, so there were few opportunities created towards each other's goal in the first 15 minutes.
In the following minutes, the U17 Vietnam team controlled the ball well, while U17 Yemen did not dare to risk raising their formation to play an attacking game like in the first half.
In the end, the two teams drew 1-1. With this result, U17 Vietnam got 4 points and was one of the second-place teams with the best results. Thus, both U17 Vietnam and U17 Yemen will join hands to enter the 2025 AFC U17 Championship Finals./.
