Difficult table for U.17 Vietnam
This afternoon (January 23), the Asian Football Confederation conducted a draw for the 2025 U.17 Asian finals, taking place from April 3 to 20 in Saudi Arabia. The tournament has 16 teams participating, including 15 teams that qualified (including U.17 Vietnam) and host U.17 Saudi Arabia.
As a result, the draw put U.17 Vietnam in a very difficult group, with U.17 Japan (defending champion of the tournament), U.17 Australia (each reached the semi-finals three times) and U.17 UAE .
U.17 Vietnam is in Group B
In the last two times participating in the U.17 Asian finals, U.17 Vietnam was eliminated in the group stage with 1 point (2023) and reached the quarterfinals (2016). The common point of these two tournaments is that U.17 Vietnam is in the same group as U.17 Japan. In both competitions for the youth team of the land of the rising sun, U.17 Vietnam lost heavily, with scores of 0-4 (2023) and 0-7 (2016), respectively.
At the draw ceremony, the organizing committee divided the 16 teams into 4 groups, with 4 teams in each group. Based on the ranking scores of the last 3 final rounds (2023, 2018, 2016) in order of 100%, 50% and 25% of the respective rankings, U.17 Vietnam is in the number seeded group. 3 along with Thailand, Oman and Afghanistan.
Seeded group number 1 includes teams: Saudi Arabia (host of the finals), Japan, Korea, Iran. Seeded group number 2 includes teams: Australia, Yemen, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and seed group number 4 includes: China, North Korea, Indonesia, UAE.
Sharing the same situation as U.17 Vietnam, U.17 Thailand is also in difficult Group A with hosts U.17 Saudi Arabia, U.17 Uzbekistan and U.17 China. And U.17 Indonesia is in Group C, which is easier to breathe with U.17 Korea, U.17 Yemen and U.17 Afghanistan.
Starting from the 2025 U.17 World Cup finals held in Qatar, the World Football Federation (FIFA) decided to increase the number of participating teams from 24 to 48. Accordingly, Asia was awarded up to 8 spots and The opportunity for Asian youth teams to participate in the 2025 U.17 World Cup has been doubled. This also means that the 8 teams that reached the quarterfinals in U.17 Asia 2025 will participate in the U.17 World Cup 2025.
The official U.17 Asia 2025 match schedule will be announced by AFC in the near future.
Coach Cristiano Roland: U.17 Vietnam does not give up
Sharing with Thanh Nien Newspaper, coach Cristiano Roland, who leads U.17 Vietnam in the 2025 Asian U.17 qualifiers, affirmed that no matter how strong the opponent is, the whole team must try their best.
“In the final round, the tournament will gather the strongest U.17 teams on the continent. The challenge of U.17 Vietnam is very difficult, but that does not mean the World Cup goal is impossible or out of reach. .
U.17 Vietnam will fight despite fragile hope
We will prepare as best we can, trying to complete every step thoroughly, from screening and focusing our forces, training, strengthening our playing style, forging more offensive and defensive pieces, or improving our mentality. , physical fitness for players. U.17 Vietnam must go through a harsh preparation period to reach the U.17 Asian playground. However, the players already understand the goal. That is the core thing.”
U.17 Vietnam won U.17 Myanmar, drew U.17 Kyrgyzstan and U.17 Yemen in the Asian qualifiers. Previously, at the Peace Cup friendly tournament held in China, Mr. Roland and his team won against both Japan U.17 and Uzbekistan U.17 to win runner-up. This is the spiritual motivation for the young Vietnamese football team to dream of miracles.
