Beautiful memories of U.17 Vietnam
Vietnam U.17 fell into a difficult group at the 2025 AFC U.17 Championship, when they had to compete with Japan U.17, Australia U.17 and UAE U.17. While Japan U.17 is the reigning Asian champion, Australia U.17 has reached the semi-finals three times, and UAE U.17 is also formidable because UAE football has long been a force in the Gulf region.
However, at the U.17 level, when the players are still very young and have not yet formed a complete technical and tactical mindset, surprises can absolutely happen. U.17 Vietnam is a living proof.
In 2016, U.17 Vietnam (then called U.16 due to the format of the Asian Football Confederation) was in the same group with U.17 Japan, U.17 Australia and U.17 Kyrgyzstan.
U.17 Vietnam (white shirt) participates in the Asian final round
Coach Dinh The Nam's players lost 0-7 to U.17 Japan in the first round, then met U.17 Australia and were behind. However, with nothing to lose, Huynh Sang and his teammates turned the tables to win 3-2. Then in the final match, U.17 Vietnam beat U.17 Kyrgyzstan to win a ticket to the quarterfinals. Although they lost 0-5 to U.17 Iran in the quarterfinals and missed out on a ticket to the World Cup, it was still a beautiful journey for the young Vietnamese players.
After 9 years, U.17 Vietnam will meet U.17 Japan and U.17 Australia again. Although the challenges in Asia are always fierce, the memorable memories of 9 years ago will be the motivation for coach Cristiano Roland and his team to create a surprise.
At the 2025 AFC U-17 Championship, the teams that reach the quarter-finals will automatically qualify for the 2025 U-17 World Cup (as the FIFA increased the number of spots at the U-17 World Cup to 48 teams). The World Cup spot is just a stone's throw away from Vietnam U-17's chances of making it past the group stage.
Quickly 'finalize' the coaching staff for U.17 Vietnam
Coach Cristiano Roland led the U.17 Vietnam team throughout the friendly match in China (the tournament in which the U.17 Vietnam team won both the U.17 Japan team and the U.17 Uzbekistan team). He was appointed to the coaching position after coach Tran Minh Chien left this group of players due to the failure in the 2024 U.16 Southeast Asian tournament.
With the right training and inspiration methods, Mr. Roland and his students made a splash when they finished second in the Peace Cup friendly tournament, then completed the target of qualifying for the 2025 U.17 Asian Cup by beating U.17 Myanmar (2-0), drawing U.17 Yemen (1-1) and U.17 Kyrgyzstan (0-0). U.17 Vietnam advanced as they were among the best second-place teams.
Coach Roland
Initially, Mr. Roland planned to return to coach the Hanoi U.17 team, then join the Vietnam U.17 team in February to prepare for the 2025 AFC U.17 Championship finals. However, Coach Roland was appointed as the Technical Director (GDKT) of Da Nang Club at the end of last year. Then, in the most recent round, Mr. Roland was registered as the Head Coach, while Mr. Phan Thanh Hung changed from Coach to GDKT.
As coach Roland is busy with Da Nang FC in the relegation race, Vietnam U.17 is likely to be led by a new "captain". The Vietnam Football Federation needs to quickly complete the coaching team for the U.17 team, to play well in the first important international tournament for Vietnamese youth in 2025.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/trung-hop-thu-vi-giup-u17-viet-nam-mo-mong-world-cup-185250124185403525.htm
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