Beating Dak Lak, U21 Song Lam Nghe An won a ticket to the Quarterfinals

Before entering the final match of Group C, the final round of the 2023 National Youth U21 Championship, U21 Song Lam Nghe An is temporarily ranked 2nd, with 3 points, the same number of points as U21 Long An but with a better secondary index. Meanwhile, U21 Dak Lak has not scored any points after 2 matches and is at the bottom of the table.

According to the tournament rules, to secure a ticket to the Quarterfinals of the 2023 National U21 Championship, U21 Song Lam Nghe An needs to have at least 1 point in the confrontation in the final match of Group C. However, the Nghe An team is at a slight disadvantage when goalkeeper Van Viet and striker Phan Xuan Dai cannot play due to injury. The replacements are goalkeeper Chu Van Tan and striker Phan Duy Hao, respectively. In addition, the Coaching BoardU21 Song Lam Nghe Analso made some small changes in the starting lineup. Center back Trinh Hoang Canh was on the field for the first time in this year's tournament to replace Vo Tat Thang. Two new 17-year-old players, Trong Son and Trong Tuan, were also in the starting lineup to replace Ngo Van Bac and Viet Manh. In particular, Ho Van Cuong was trusted by the U21 Song Lam Nghe An Coaching Board to be in the starting lineup.

Despite the absence of some key players, with the current squad, the Nghe An team is still rated higher than its opponent. This was shown as soon as the ball rolled on Vinh field. As usual, U21 Song Lam Nghe An still took the initiative to control the match and attacked to pressure the opponent from the start.

Many opportunities were created by Nghe An strikers in front of Quoc Bao's goal on the Dak Lak side. One of them was Trong Tuan's close-range header in the 10th minute of the match. In addition, Ho Van Cuong and Nguyen Trong Son also had situations that could have brought advantages to the home team. However, due to a lack of luck, their shots could not defeat the opposing goalkeeper.

It was not until the 30th minute of the match that Trong Son brought home the opening goal for his team. After a series of coordination in the middle, the ball was passed to Mai Hoang. The defender wearing the number 13 shirt made a pass towards the second post for Trong Son. The midfielder born in 2006's reasonable control and tricky shot did not give goalkeeper Quoc Bao a chance to block.

After the opening goal, U21 Song Lam Nghe An seemed to have released the pressure, so they played freely, thereby creating many highly diverse attacks. In the 36th minute, Trong Son once again scored to double the gap for the Nghe team. The goal came from an attack on the right wing, Trong Son received the ball in the penalty area, then fired a low shot, defeating goalkeeper Quoc Bao.

Before the first half ended, Phan Duy Hao created a golden scoring opportunity, but his shot hit the crossbar. Therefore, the 2-0 result in favor of U21 Song Lam Nghe An remained after the first 45 minutes of the match.

Entering the second half, in the 50th minute, Phan Duy Hao continued to increase the score to 3-0 for U21 Song Lam Nghe An. The goal came from a fast and technical individual breakthrough on the left wing of the striker wearing the number 8 shirt. Before putting the ball into Dak Lak's net, Duy Hao had a powerful shot, leaving goalkeeper Quoc Bao no chance to block.

Five minutes later, from a chaotic situation in front of the opponent's goal, Van Thanh quickly touched the ball accurately, making the net of U21 Dak Lak rise to 4-0 for U21 Song Lam Nghe An.

Not stopping there, in the 70th minute, Hai Dang continued to score to raise the score to 5-0 for U21 Song Lam Nghe An. The goal was made from a beautiful curling shot, outside the penalty area by midfielder wearing shirt number 16, the ball went into the top corner of the goal, making goalkeeper Quoc Bao unable to block it even though he jumped as far as he could.

In the final minutes of the match, when a safe distance was ensured, U21 Song Lam Nghe An proactively slowed down the tempo and 5-0 in favor of U21 Nghe An was the final result.

With a big win against Dak Lak, U21 Song Lam Nghe An officially won a ticket to the Quarterfinals of the 2023 National Youth U21 Tournament./.