U17 SLNA sadly missed the 2019 Finals
(Baonghean.vn) - The 1-2 defeat against direct opponent U17 Thanh Hoa ended the hope of coach Le Manh Huy and his team winning a ticket to the 2019 National U17 Finals.
Before the 6th round of matches, U17 SLNA was in 2nd place with 8 points in hand, 5 points behind the leading team U17 Thanh Hoa. The match with the Thanh Hoa team on June 17th was almost the only chance for U17 SLNA to shorten the gap with their opponents, in order to hold on to the hope of winning a ticket to the finals.
In a must-win situation, coach Le Manh Huy's players flooded into the Thanh Hoa U17 field right after the referee blew the whistle. Captain Pham Van Ba's opening goal was too little compared to the opportunities that SLNA U17 created in front of the Thanh Hoa team's goal.
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| A fight for the ball between players of U17 SLNA and U17 Thanh Hoa. Photo archive |
Continuously missing good opportunities made U17 SLNA pay the price. Although playing at a disadvantage, U17 Thanh Hoa was the team that knew how to take advantage of opportunities. With 2 consecutive goals, the Thanh team had a successful comeback to win all 3 points. In both the first and second leg, U17 SLNA were defeated by U17 Thanh Hoa and won with the same score of 2-1.
The 2019 National U17 Qualifiers, Group B, only have 2 more matches to officially end. Letting U17 Thanh Hoa widen the gap to 8 points, U17 SLNA had to accept that they missed the final round. The loss to U17 Thanh Hoa caused U17 SLNA to drop to 4th place on the Group B rankings.
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| The last time U17 SLNA won the championship was in the tournament held in 2012. Photo courtesy |
Even if U17 SLNA wins all 6 points in the remaining 2 matches and finishes in the second place, one of the wildcard tickets for the second-placed teams with the best results will certainly not belong to coach Le Manh Huy and his team. Because the other second-placed teams are holding a much higher score than U17 SLNA.
So, U17 SLNA will have to wait at least another year to win the 8th championship in the playground for the U17 age group. Currently, U17 SLNA is holding the record in the National U17 Football Tournament, with 7 championships won. /.