U17 SLNA on the journey to regain glory

The final round of this tournament will start from September 18 to September 27 at the PVF Youth Football Center, Hung Yen. Previously, U17 SLNA showed an extremely impressive performance in the qualifying round. In a group including Thanh Hoa, SHB Da Nang, Quang Nam and Thua Thien - Hue, coach Le Ky Phuong and his team opened with a 2-0 victory over U17 Thua Thien - Hue.

Afterward,U17 SLNAcontinued to defeat U17 Quang Nam with a score of 3-0 before drawing U17 Thanh Hoa 1-1 in a tense match. Closing the first leg, the young team from Nghe An defeated U17 SHB Da Nang with a score of 4-0.

In the return leg, U17 SLNA once again defeated Thua Thien - Hue and Quang Nam with the same score of 3-1 before the tournament was postponed due to the Covid-19 epidemic. Although only playing 6 matches, U17 SLNA had 5 wins, 1 draw, ranking first in Group B with 16 points. Standing in 2nd place in Group B is Thanh Hoa with 14 points (4 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss).

SLNA U17 team has 2 friendly matches in Nam Dinh before participating in the final round. Photo: SLNA FC

According to the announcement of amendments and supplements to the Regulations of the 2020 National U17 Football Championship (5th time) of the Vietnam Football Federation, the Vietnam Football Federation will not continue organizing matches IX and X of Group B of the 2020 National U17 Football Championship and recognize the final results of Group B at the time of suspension.

Thus, the 2020 National U17 Football Tournament has determined 08 teams participating in the Final Round (Finals) of the 2020 National U17 Football Championship including: Group A: PVF, Group B: Song Lam Nghe An, Thanh Hoa; Group C: Hoang Anh Gia Lai, Phu Yen; Group D: Saigon, Group E: Dong Thap, Nutifood Academy.

This year, U17 SLNA received a lot of expectations because this is the generation of players from 2003 and 2004, most of whom won the National U15 Championship in 2018 and 2019. At the same time, players like Dinh Xuan Tien and Nguyen Van Bach are the faces reinforced from the U19 SLNA team that just won the bronze medal.

At the age of 2004, there are outstanding players such as Tran Dinh Thanh, Ngo Van Bac, Vo Tien Thang, Nguyen Van Bay, Nguyen Duc Manh, all of whom are national team players.U15 Vietnam will gather in 2019after the National U15 Championship. The most regrettable case is that striker Phan Duy Hao - the top scorer of that tournament was not included in the squad participating in this year's U17 tournament due to personal reasons.

It can be said that U17 SLNA is highly appreciated with the coordination of Coach Le Ky Phuong, Coach Pham Van Quyen in the coaching staff and the players who have continuously achieved success in the National U13 and National U15 tournaments. However, U17 PVF and U17 HAGL are also very formidable opponents. The core of the PVF and HAGL teams are the factors that reached the final of the recent National U19 Tournament.

The last time U17 SLNA won the National U17 Championship was in 2012 with the first team's mainstay players currently playing in the V.League. Photo: Quang Thai

Commenting on the opportunities of SLNA U17 this year, head coach Le Ky Phuong said: “In general, the 2003 generation of Vietnamese football is quite even. Even the qualifying round showed the fierceness when the two very strong Viettel and Hanoi teams could not win tickets to the finals. Therefore, the opportunities are divided equally for everyone, it is difficult to predict anything. SLNA U17 this year has many good players, but the gap between the main players and the reserve players is still quite large. After winning tickets to the finals, I did the ideological work for the players to make an effort in every match.”

Currently, U17 SLNA is stationed in Nam Dinh and has 2 friendly matches with U17 Nam Dinh and U19 Nam Dinh to "warm up" before moving to Hung Yen to start the journey at the National U17 Finals.

In the history of the tournament, SLNA still holds the record for the number of times winning the National U17 Championship with 7 crowns (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012). However, in recent years,Nghe An football teamis showing signs of running out of steam as its best achievement was the silver medal in 2018. Therefore, if the young SLNA players want to continue writing history, they need to make a lot of effort.

According to the announcement of VFF, non-professional football tournaments are expected to return to competition from September 18, 2020, specifically as follows:

• The final round of the 2020 National U17 Football Championship opens on September 18, 2020;

• The second leg of the qualifying round of the 2020 National U15 Football Championship will take place from September 20, 2020;

• The final round of the 2020 National Youth and Children's Football Tournament will take place in October and November 2020;

• The remaining tournaments including: U15 National Cup, U17 National Cup, U21 National Championship, National Third Division, Futsal National Cup 2020 will be adjusted to compete from November to December 2020.

SLNA U17 team won 2 consecutive matches in the 2020 National U17 Qualifiers

(Baonghean.vn) - After winning the opening match against host Thua Thien - Hue, U17 SLNA continued to win all 3 points against U17 Quang Nam in the 2020 National U17 qualifying round.

Trung Kien