Not surprisingly, the defending champion U23 Vietnam entered the match confidently and soon put pressure on the goal of U23 Laos with an opportunity for Quoc Viet, but this striker shot the ball wide of the goal of U23 Laos in the 4th minute.

In the following minutes, U23 Vietnam was still the team that controlled the game better, but the Golden Star Warriors still encountered many difficulties and were stuck in deploying an attacking strategy against U23 Laos, who played a relatively good defense.

U23 Vietnam players celebrate the opening goal. Photo: Thuy An

However, the deadlock was finally broken by the U23 Vietnam players. In the 23rd minute, Vo Hoang Minh Khoa leaned forward to finish from Van Khang's cross to open the score for U23 Vietnam. This was a somewhat lucky goal for U23 Vietnam, as the U23 Laos defense made a mistake in marking.

With the lead, in high spirits, the U23 Vietnam players continued to put pressure in search of a goal to double the gap, but U23 Vietnam almost had to pay the price if it weren't for the brilliance of goalkeeper Van Chuan after Soukphachan's diagonal shot in a one-on-one situation.

In the final minutes of the first half, both U23 Vietnam and U23 Laos created attacking situations towards each other's goal, however, the players of both teams lacked precision in their final shots. The first half ended with U23 Vietnam temporarily leading 1-0 against U23 Laos.

A situation of ball dispute between players of two teams. Photo: Thuy An

After the break, U23 Laos made a series of substitutions to strengthen the attack, the substitutions brought an equalizer for U23 Laos. In the 52nd minute, from a situation where a U23 Laos player hung the ball into the U23 Vietnam penalty area, goalkeeper Van Chuan punched the ball poorly, creating an opportunity for new player Thipphachan to equalize 1-1 for U23 Laos.

After being equalized, U23 Vietnam increased the speed and pressure towards the U23 Laos goal. In the 72nd minute, Minh Quang made a reasonable position, then ran down to face goalkeeper Thilavong and coolly scored, raising the score to 2-1 for U23 Vietnam. In the excitement, U23 Vietnam scored a goal to widen the gap in the 76th minute. Duy Hoang assisted Xuan Tien to run down and gently score, raising the score to 3-1 for U23 Vietnam.

Not stopping there, U23 Vietnam scored the 4th goal in the final minutes of extra time of the match. From a quick counter-attack, Vi Hao coolly scored the ball to seal the 4-1 victory for U23 Vietnam.

With this victory, U23 Vietnam had a favorable start and took the top spot in Group C, U23 Southeast Asia tournament. In the final match, U23 Vietnam will face U23 Philippines at 8:00 p.m. on August 22.

TUAN DIEP

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