SLNA, playing at home, are determined to win the championship.

(Baonghean.vn) - On the afternoon of March 12th, two opening matches of Group B in the National U19 Football Championship – Ton Hoa Sen Cup will simultaneously take place at Vinh Stadium and Military Region 4 Stadium: Song Lam Nghe An vs. Hanoi T&T (3:00 PM, Vinh Stadium) and PVF vs. Ho Chi Minh City (3:00 PM, Military Region 4 Stadium).

U19 SNLA (in yellow jerseys) will face U19 Hanoi T&T in the opening match.

The final round of the 2015 National U19 Football Championship - Ton Hoa Sen Cup features eight outstanding teams that qualified from the preliminary rounds: Viettel, Thua Thien Hue, Binh Duong, Long An (Group A), and Song Lam Nghe An, Ho Chi Minh City, PVF, and Hanoi T&T (Group B). These eight teams will play a round-robin format, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semi-finals. The two winning teams from the semi-finals will compete in the final match on March 21st.

Earlier, on the morning of March 11th, at the Green Hotel Conference Hall (2 Mai Hac De Street, Vinh City), a technical meeting was held to prepare for the 2015 National U19 Football Championship - Ton Hoa Sen Cup Finals. The meeting was chaired by representatives from the VFF and the Organizing Committee, with attendees including the Organizing Committee, the host local organizing committee, representatives from the clubs/teams (team leaders and head coaches), supervisors, and referees. The meeting discussed the issue of player additions and replacements for the Finals and also included a draw for jersey registration. Through this meeting, the Organizing Committee thoroughly checked the replacement personnel according to the standards, ensuring they fully met the conditions in sections 4 and 5 of the tournament regulations. In addition, the Organizing Committee also cleared all yellow cards received by players in the qualifying rounds, except for those who received direct red cards in the final match.

Returning to the opening match at Vinh Stadium, this was a rematch of the 2014 U19 National Championship final between SLNA and HN T&T. In that match, HN T&T won against the team from Nghe An and became champions. Of course, SLNA did not want that to happen again, especially since they had secured the right to host the finals at Vinh Stadium. Furthermore, the result of the opening match also significantly affected the outcome of the three-way race between SLNA, HN T&T, and PVF for the two qualifying spots in Group B. Therefore, to prepare for the finals, the home team SLNA made changes to their coaching staff by appointing Coach Nguyen Quang Hai as head coach, replacing Coach Nguyen Tien Quang from the previous qualifying round, and also completed the paperwork to add two players from the youth team to the finals.

“HN T&T is a strong team, their players are of high quality. That was demonstrated in the recent qualifying matches. Conversely, SLNA has the advantage of playing at home, with the support of their fans and the fighting spirit of their players whenever they face HN T&T. Therefore, I think SLNA will win,” – Coach Nguyen Quang Hai stated before the match.

In the remaining match of Group B between PVF and Ho Chi Minh City at the Military Region 4 stadium, the advantage is leaning towards Coach Nguyen Huu Dang's team as the players from the VPF youth football academy are considered stronger than their city rivals. However, Tran Thanh Phuong's players don't want to be just pushovers, so the match will be worth watching.

Match schedule and predicted results:

SLNA – HN T&T (Vinh Stadium)

PVF – Ho Chi Minh City (Military Region 4 Stadium)

Dai Nghia