Vietnam U16 team regrettably lost to Thailand in the U16 Southeast Asia semi-finals

On the afternoon of July 1, the U16 Vietnam team entered the semi-finals of the U16 Southeast Asian tournament against the Thai team. It was predicted that they would have a difficult match when facing U16 Thailand in the semi-finals of the U16 Southeast Asian tournament 2024. In fact, the events that took place on the field in the first half proved that the above assessment was completely correct. Thailand, with a squad of young players considered to be of high quality, caused a lot of difficulties for coach Tran Minh Chien's team.

Thailand U16 had about 2-3 other good chances but could not take advantage of them. Being pressured by the opponent forced Vietnam U16 to retreat deep into their own half, only occasionally launching individual counter-attacks. The 2 most notable opportunities of Vietnam U16 in the first half were both marked by young striker Nguyen Van Bach.

The first was a PVF player passing the ball to Viet Long to face the Thai U16 goalkeeper. However, Viet Long was offside and missed the opportunity. The second situation was Van Bach passing the ball past two Thai defenders, passing into the penalty area but Hong Phong failed to finish.

Right at the beginning of the second half, U16 Vietnam suddenly had an advantage. In the 52nd minute, from a corner kick, Hong Quang was blocked by a Thai defender in the penalty area. After consulting VAR, the referee determined that the Thai U16 defender had fouled Hong Quang and decided to award U16 Vietnam a penalty. On the 11m mark, Hong Phong successfully finished, opening the score 1-0 for U16 Vietnam.

U16 Thailand was the better team to start the game, actively controlling the ball and creating continuous pressure on U16 Vietnam's goal. In the 8th minute, goalkeeper Thang Long's net almost shook after a close-range header from the Thai striker. Luckily, the U16 Vietnam goalkeeper was able to fly to block the goal and save the obvious loss. In the 16th minute, Hong Quang continued to use his back to block Phosri's close-range shot.

With skillful individual techniques and a fairly even tactical mindset, U16 Thailand easily deployed the game as desired. The "young war elephants" confidently held the ball and coordinated, creating gaps to find a way into the goal of U16 Vietnam. It must be affirmed that U16 Vietnam was lucky not to concede a goal in the first half.

After the opening goal, the spirit of U16 Vietnam was quite excited. However, the joy of coach Minh Chien's team did not last long. In the 60th minute, U16 Vietnam let U16 Thailand equalize the score 1-1 after Phothong's extremely brave header. After this goal, the Thai player had to leave the field on a stretcher and was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment.

In the following minutes, the match became more exciting. The two teams played continuously. In the 80th minute, Duy Dang missed the opportunity to score a goal to increase the score to 2-1 after his header went over the crossbar. Unable to resolve the match, U16 Vietnam had to pay the price. In the 90+2 minute, receiving a pass from his teammate, Chalwat scored a tricky shot to increase the score to 2-1 for U16 Thailand. In the extra minutes, U16 Vietnam tried to find an equalizer but failed, and had to watch their opponent enter the final match of U16 Southeast Asia 2024.