2014 AFC U19 Championship: Also serves as the qualifying round for the U20 World Cup!

With their outstanding performance at the recent 2013 Southeast Asian U19 Championship, the Vietnam U19 team has every right to hope for the top spot in their group and a direct qualification to the finals against Australia.

Vietnam U19 is highly regarded in this tournament - Photo: Dong Huyen

For ambitious football nations, the AFC U19 Championship qualifiers are the starting point in the race for the four AFC representatives to qualify for the U20 World Cup (held in 2015), a tournament that has brought fame to players like Maradona (1975), Daniel Alves (2003), and Messi (2005)...

In the 2014 AFC U19 Asian Championship qualifiers, 39 teams were divided into 9 groups.Vietnam U19Vietnam was placed in Group F (held in Malaysia) along with Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mongolia (however, Mongolia later withdrew from the tournament). According to AFC regulations, the top teams in the nine qualifying groups would qualify directly for the finals along with host nation Myanmar. Six wildcard spots would go to the six best-performing second-placed teams!

In our Group F, Australia is considered the top contender! Vietnam U19, with their record of participating in 5 out of the last 6 AFC U19 Championship finals (from 2002 to 2012), are rated higher than Hong Kong (last participation in 1977) and Taiwan (last participation in 1971).

However, with their outstanding performance at the recent 2013 Southeast Asian U19 Championship, the Vietnam U19 team has every right to hope for the top spot in their group and a direct qualification ticket to the finals against Australia. Many believe that the Vietnam U19 team will be a "phenomenon" in the qualifying rounds, and even in the finals of the 2014 Asian U19 Championship. Furthermore, the Vietnam U19 team could even qualify for the 2015 U20 World Cup (to be held in New Zealand)! Why not?

This is because the AFC has four slots for the 2015 U20 World Cup finals, and naturally, those tickets will be awarded to the four teams that reach the semi-finals of the 2014 AFC U19 Championship.

If Coach Guillaume Graechen's team continues to perform as positively as they have recently and turns the "World Cup dream" into reality, the Vietnam U19 team will certainly be even more popular than they are now.

According to Football Plus - National Team