What does the Vietnam U20 team need to do to advance from the group stage of the 2017 U20 World Cup?

The draw placed Vietnam U20 in what is considered the easiest group at the 2017 U20 World Cup. So what conditions do they need to create a surprise at the tournament?

Focus heavily on Honduras and New Zealand.

The draw held yesterday afternoon (March 15th) placed Vietnam U20 in Group E along with France U20, Honduras U20, and New Zealand U20. Among the opponents Vietnam U20 will face, France U20 is undoubtedly the toughest.

New Zealand (in white) previously defeated Myanmar U20 5-1 in the 2015 U20 World Cup. Photo: Internet.

The 2013 U20 World Cup champions boast a host of world-class young stars such as Marcus Thuram, son of legendary player Lilian Thuram; Ludovic Blas, a key player at Guingamp; "the French Coutinho" Maxime Lopez; and most formidable of all, Kylian Mbappe – the young striker who is playing exceptionally well for Monaco and also scored in the principality team's comeback victory against Man City in the UEFA Champions League round of 16.

Getting points against U20 France will certainly not be easy. Therefore, focusing on the two matches against easier opponents, Honduras and New Zealand, would be appropriate for Coach Hoang Anh Tuan's team. U20 New Zealand has participated in the U20 World Cup five times but has only advanced beyond the group stage once (in 2015).

The Oceania U20 champions have lost 9 out of 13 matches played in the world tournament. Similarly, like New Zealand U20, Honduras U20, despite participating in the U20 World Cup finals 7 times (including this time), has been eliminated in the group stage 6 times.

Being in third place still allows you to advance.

The format remains similar to previous editions of the U20 World Cup: in addition to the top two teams in each group (out of a total of 12 teams), the four best third-placed teams out of six will qualify for the Round of 16. This format clearly opens up many opportunities for participating teams, especially for a newcomer like Vietnam making its debut on the international stage.

Vietnam U20 can advance from the group stage if they play their best and stay focused against Honduras and New Zealand - Photo: Internet.

To give an example, the Vietnamese Futsal team also benefited greatly from this selection format when participating in the 2016 Futsal World Cup. Just one win or one draw was enough to qualify them among the four best third-placed teams mentioned above.

The ranking in the group will still be based on the following order of priority: Points, goal difference, number of goals scored, before considering head-to-head performance if more than two teams are tied on those criteria.

Meanwhile, the division of the best-performing third-placed teams will be based on the following criteria in order of priority: Points, goal difference, number of goals scored, fair-play points, and finally a draw (if all four criteria are equal).

If Vietnam U20 can perform well against New Zealand and Honduras – teams that have participated in many previous U20 World Cup finals but are not particularly outstanding – they could absolutely qualify for the round of 16, or even dream of finishing second in their group.

According to bongdaplus