U.17 Vietnam competes for World Cup tickets: Why not?

Opportunity of U.17 Vietnam

Vietnam U.17 won a ticket to the 2025 AFC U.17 Championship finals after a 1-1 draw with Yemen U.17 in the final round, which took place on the evening of October 27. In the end, after 3 matches, coach Cristiano Roland and his team won 5 points, receiving a ticket to continue as one of the 5 best second-placed teams.

At the 2025 AFC U-17 Championship finals taking place next year, Vietnam U-17 will compete with 15 other strong opponents, namely: Saudi Arabia U-17 (host), North Korea U-17 (Group A winner), Afghanistan U-17 (Group B winner), South Korea U-17 (Group C winner), Thailand U-17 (Group D winner), Uzbekistan U-17 (Group E winner), Japan U-17 (Group F winner), Australia U-17 (Group G winner), UAE U-17 (Group H winner), Yemen U-17 (Group I winner), Tajikistan U-17 (Group J winner), China U-17, Indonesia U-17, Oman U-17 and Iraq U-17 (second-place teams in the excellent group).

U.17 Vietnam (white shirt) passed the U.17 Asia qualifiers

The 16 teams participating in the final round are divided into 4 groups, each group has 4 teams. What is special about next year's tournament is that the teams in the quarter-finals of the U.17 Asia will automatically qualify for the U.17 World Cup 2025. The reason is that the number of places in the U.17 World Cup finals from next year will increase to 48 teams, of which Asia will have 8 places. The World Football Federation (FIFA) wants to increase the number of teams to expand the competition opportunities for the U.17 generation.

That means, if they win the ticket to pass the group stage, U.17 Vietnam will have the first time in history to participate in the U.17 World Cup. The opportunity to participate in the World Cup for the U.17 generation is brighter than before, when the place to play in the world playground was only given to teams that reached the Asian semi-finals. The best achievement of U.17 Vietnam in the U.17 Asian finals was to be present in the semi-finals (in 2000). Then in 2016, the team led by coach Dinh The Nam reached the quarter-finals, only to stop before a very strong opponent named Iran.

Fierce competition

With 16 teams competing for 8 tickets to the 2025 U.17 World Cup, U.17 Vietnam will aim to fight to the end to reach the threshold of history.

According to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the teams participating in the AFC U.17 finals are divided into seed groups as follows:

U.17 Vietnam dares to dream big?

- Group 1: U.17 Saudi Arabia (host), U.17 Japan, U.17 Korea, U.17 Uzbekistan

- Group 2: U.17 Yemen, U.17 Australia, U.17 Thailand, U.17 Afghanistan

- Group 3: U.17 Tajikistan, U.17 China, U.17 Vietnam, U.17 Indonesia

- Group 4: U.17 Oman, U.17 Iraq, U.17 UAE, U.17 DPRK

In the unpredictable U.17 arena (U.17 Vietnam defeated U.17 Japan and U.17 Uzbekistan at the 2024 Peace Cup friendly tournament), the probability of participating in the World Cup will be divided equally among the teams.

To go all out for the big goal, U.17 Vietnam needs to be thoroughly prepared from now on. Coach Roland and his team lack experience and have many shortcomings in their playing style. However, if they train and practice properly, Tran Gia Bao and his teammates still have a chance to make a difference. Because with youth football, anything can happen!

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/u17-viet-nam-canh-tranh-ve-world-cup-tai-sao-khong-185241028011841959.htm