Vietnam 's U23 team was defeated 1-0 by the Student football team from the Republic of Korea (RoK) in their opener at HCM City International Football Tournament on Sept. 20.

Kim Jong-bo penetrated an offside trap to net the ball in the 88th minute.

In an early match on Sept. 20, Qatar 's Aspire Academy beat Singapore 's U23 team 2-0 at Thong Nhat Stadium.

The win took the Qatari to the top of the tournament table with three points, ahead of the RoK student football team and Vietnam .

The hosts started the match in an attacking style, while the visitors played cautiously, slowing play down.

The Vietnam team let go of a good opportunity to score when Captain Hoang Dinh Tung missed a goal in the 15th minute when his header went wide at close range.

Vietnamese players created more chances to score but strikers failed to penetrate the crowded RoK defence.

After the break, German coach Falko Goetz sent in more attacking midfielders and strikers to find a win for Vietnam , but in the end failed to find the goal, despite dominating the second half.

Vietnam is scheduled to play Aspire Academy on Sept. 22 and Singapore 's U23 team on Sept. 24.

The tournament has drawn U-23 teams from Singapore , the RoK student team and the hosts, who will compete in a round robin format for a cash prize of 20,000 USD. The Academy is a place for training world football talents with their programme called Football Dreams.

Da Nang 's Nguyen Thai Sung became the first Vietnamese contestant in the Aspire's global final, receiving a scholarship for three-years of training at Aspire Academy .

The Aspire Academy team will also take part in an U-21 international tournament organised from September 27 to October 4.

The event is a chance for Vietnam 's U-23 team to hone their skills and prepare for the upcoming 26th Southeast Asian Games./.