U.17 Vietnam 1-1 U.17 UAE: Didn't lose but unfortunately lost the ticket to the World Cup

* PRE-MATCH PREDICTIONS

U.17 Vietnam must play to win

U.17 Vietnam has completed half of the journey to the ticket to the U.17 World Cup (for teams that pass the group stage of the 2025 AFC U17 Championship). After a commendable draw against U17 Australia, coach Cristiano Roland and his team surprised everyone by holding back defending champion U17 Japan with an equalizer in the last minute of injury time.

Previously, U.17 Vietnam always lost every time they met U.17 Japan in Asia (losing both of their last encounters, conceding 11 goals), but times have changed. Under the skillful coaching and inspiration of Mr. Roland, U.17 Vietnam has become a tight, tenacious team. Le Huy Viet Anh and his teammates always approach the match with a cautious style, emphasizing defense, then following the development of the match to choose the right time to counterattack. This is a way of playing that knows yourself and your opponent. When young Vietnamese players are inferior to their opponents in both physical size and strength, they cannot just rush forward to play domineeringly, but must choose a clever way of playing, then unleash their strength at the right time.

U.17 Vietnam (middle) has only one choice: to win, if they want to continue.

PHOTO: VFF

U.17 Vietnam played with endurance against U.17 Australia and Japan U.17 when trying to defend, then scoring from lightning attacks. The advantage of coach Roland's students when playing according to this strategy is the mentality that... a draw is fine. When playing to a draw, the players are more relaxed, because this is the result we have at the starting line, we just need to try to maintain it. However, the mentality of having to play to win will be very different. U.17 Vietnam must beat U.17 UAE to get a ticket to the World Cup, that is the only condition and also the most difficult.

U.17 Vietnam plays well as an underdog, when focusing on defense. However, let's look at the previous lesson of the Vietnam team to see that a team that plays effective defense does not mean it will play well when pushing forward to attack. When placed in a must-win situation, the spirit of U.17 Vietnam will be tested to the utmost. The match against U.17 UAE will be a completely new picture, where what both U.17 Vietnam and the opponent performed in the previous 2 matches will no longer have reference value. For youth football, each match is a separate world. However, this is also the mentality that Mr. Roland and his students prepared before the departure. When setting the World Cup goal, the players must determine to have at least one win, and as the coaching staff initially calculated, that is the final match against U.17 UAE. Not only because the West Asian opponent was the lightest in theory, but also because by the time the final match came, U.17 Vietnam had warmed up enough and gotten used to the top pace to show off their quintessence.

Believe that U.17 Vietnam is capable of playing better than the previous match, with the best still yet to be unleashed. In the first two matches, lightning-fast attacks brought results. Now in an attacking position, we can believe that young stars like Hoang Trong Duy Khang, Tran Gia Bao or Chu Ngoc Nguyen Luc will explode. Young players always have hidden value, which coach Roland is exploiting very well.

Identify your competitors

U.17 UAE quickly got up after losing 1-4 to U.17 Japan, to defeat U.17 Australia with a score of 2-0. That is the typical instability of West Asian teams (from youth level to national team). U.17 UAE has good physique and speed, the individuals are very technical, skillful, and independent, in which Jayden Adetiba (the spearhead currently playing for Arsenal's youth team) stands out.

However, the Gulf team's weakness is that their tactical discipline is often poor, especially in defense. The lack of a good coordinator like Ali Hassan due to suspension also forces coach Majed Salem Al Zaabi to calculate his forces.

In both matches, U.17 UAE left their flanks exposed when attacking. The gap behind the full-backs is a weakness that coach Roland and his team can exploit. Although the U.17 UAE central defenders are good at fighting, their judgment is unstable and they are not quick when facing fast and skillful strikers. The West Asian representative made many mistakes in defense and U.17 Vietnam is capable of taking advantage if they finish well. This is also the detail that coach Roland emphasized to his students during the training session: they must be very careful, because opportunities do not always come.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/truc-tiep-u17-viet-nam-0-0-u17-uae-phai-thang-de-gianh-ve-world-cup-1852504101911137.htm