Vietnam’s U20 team was eliminated from the group of best runners-up after the final matches of the 2025 AFC U20 Asian Cup qualifiers concluded.
The 0-1 loss to U20 Syria in the final match of Group A at Lach Tray Stadium on the evening of September 29 left U20 Vietnam without control over their fate in the race for a spot in the next round.
Coach Hua Hien Vinh’s team dropped to second place in the group and had to compete against other runners-up from nine different groups to secure a spot. Only the top five second-place teams (out of a total of 10 runners-up) would advance to the finals.
Unfortunately, the results from the remaining matches, which took place on the evening of September 29 and early morning of September 30, did not favor Nguyen Cong Phuong and his teammates.
Initially, U20 Vietnam was ranked third among the second-place teams, behind U20 Yemen and U20 Thailand. However, U20 Kyrgyzstan’s resilient 0-0 draw with U20 Japan in Group I secured them seven points, surpassing U20 Vietnam’s six points (after deducting the results against the last-place teams). This pushed Vietnam down to fourth.
Then, U20 Qatar’s unexpected 3-2 victory over U20 Jordan in the final Group J match caused U20 Jordan to drop to second place. With six points, the same as U20 Vietnam, U20 Jordan ranked higher due to a superior goal difference (+8 compared to +6).
At this point, Vietnam was fifth in the runners-up standings and needed a win or loss in the match between U20 Australia and U20 Saudi Arabia to maintain their qualification. However, the match ended in a 0-0 draw, giving U20 Australia seven points and pushing U20 Vietnam out of the top five best runners-up, thus ending their journey in the qualifiers.
Leave a Reply