Defending champion PVF faces runner-up SLNA, opening a dramatic U.21 2024 tournament

The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has just drawn lots to schedule the qualifying round of the 2024 National U.21 Football Tournament for 27 teams (at the last minute, Phu Tho team withdrew). The entire qualifying round will take place within 10 days from July 12 to July 22 with 5 matches. The team with the most matches in the 2 groups of 6 teams will play 5 matches, while the remaining 3 groups of 5 teams will only play a maximum of 4 matches each.

This is different from the qualifying round of the national U.19 football tournament at the beginning of the year when the teams competed in 2 home and away matches with a total of 8-10 matches. With such a large number of matches, the density of the matches will increase and if there are some mistakes in the opening matches, they can still make up for them in the second leg to find a chance to continue. In contrast, with the U.21 tournament, due to limited time and the fact that most players of this age group have just gone through professional and non-professional national football tournaments, the VFF has stipulated that there will only be 1 match.

Will PVF (blue shirt, left) be able to defend their championship title when they meet SLNA soon?

Playing one round of matches makes each match in each group no different from the final match because of the tense and attractive nature of each match. With the rule that each group only has 2 teams officially entering the final round, it is mandatory that teams who want to have a chance to participate in the final round must not lose more than 1 match out of 4 matches. That will be a difficult thing for any team. This also means that if they stumble and do not get a point in the opening match, the chance will be narrowed to 50%.

VFF General Secretary Duong Nghiep Khoi said: "The U.21 tournament is extremely important in the national youth tournament system, because this is a transitional step to help young players approach professional and top-level football. Teams that play well and players who mature through this tournament mostly make their mark in professional or non-professional tournaments afterwards. That is why most players are eager to show off in this playground to introduce their progress and development. This is also the basis for VFF to later establish a Vietnam U.23 team to prepare for the SEA Games next year."

Hanoi, the U.19 champion, is determined to do a double.

According to the draw results, many opening matches on July 12 will be extremely interesting. In Group A, 2 of the 3 strong candidates in this group, Hanoi and Hanoi Police Club, will meet in the capital derby at Viettel Sports Center Stadium. The winner of this match (the bigger the margin, the better) will have a good chance of getting a ticket to the final round. Similarly, in Group B, the match between defending champion PVF and runner-up SLNA is also extremely attractive. The young players of both teams are very good at fighting, so each move will be very fierce. In 2023 in Thanh Hoa, Nguyen Quang Vinh put U.21 SLNA ahead, but center-back Nguyen Phuong Nam equalized and then the team from Hung Yen won in a penalty shootout with a score of 5/4 to be crowned.

In the U.19 quarter-finals earlier this year in Binh Duong, the Nghe An team got revenge when they beat PVF 2-1. It was also Nguyen Quang Vinh who opened the score for SLNA and although PVF equalized through Nguyen Hoang Anh, Nguyen Tan Minh sealed the result for coach Nguyen Huy Hoang and his team. Mentioning this again shows that the matches between PVF and SLNA will be extremely hot and when the two teams meet, it will be a fierce battle between the players on both sides.

The joy of U.19 Song Lam Nghe An after eliminating PVF

It is just a pity that during the qualifying round, many good players of these two teams such as Nguyen Quang Vinh, Le Nguyen Hoang, Le Dinh Long Vu, Cao Van Binh (SLNA) or Thai Ba Dat (best player of the 2023 U.21 tournament), Nguyen Hoang Anh, Le Thang Long, Nguyen Bao Long (PVF) could not participate because they had to focus on the national U.19 team to compete in the U.19 Southeast Asia tournament. Similarly, other players of Hanoi such as goalkeeper Pham Dinh Hai, defender Nguyen Canh Tai, midfielder Duong Dinh Nguyen or The Cong Viettel such as midfielder Nguyen Cong Phuong, striker Nguyen Dang Duong. Or of Hue such as 3 midfielders Hoang Quang Dung, Nguyen Huu Tuan and Vi Dinh Thuong and defender Nguyen Luong Tuan Khai were all absent due to joining the national U.19 team, making coach Duong Cong Quoc regretful.

The Hue ancient capital team (white shirts) played very well at the U.19 tournament. This time, the U.21 qualifying round lost 4 key players to the national U.19 team.

But what can we do because the U.21 competition schedule cannot be moved to "avoid" the U.19 Southeast Asian tournament. Because if it is postponed until the end of August to start and the final round in early September, it will affect the new season plan 2024-2025 of the tournaments in the professional and non-professional system that are about to start, and most of the U.21 players are on the registration list of 26 V-League and first division teams.

Therefore, VFF determined that strong teams playing in the qualifying round are equally difficult and must accept the option of not having good players. They can only be reinforced if the team makes it to the final round.

Khanh Hoa won against Binh Phuoc (white shirt) in the final round of the U.19 tournament

Returning to the good matches on the opening day of the qualifying round in Group D, there is also the match between Ho Chi Minh City FC and Dong Thap at Thong Nhat Stadium. This is also the pivotal match to decide which team will advance to reach the final round ticket. Similarly, the match between home team Binh Phuoc and Khanh Hoa will also be very exciting because these are two young football forces that have made progress in recent times. In the qualifying round of the U.19 tournament at the beginning of the year, the coastal city team defeated their opponent 2-1, so the Southeast team is determined to get revenge.

Qualifying round schedule:

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/duong-kim-vo-dich-pvf-doi-dau-a-quan-slna-mo-dau-giai-u21-2024-kich-tinh-185240628204539918.htm