U21 Vietnam celebrate beating Thailand at the Thanh Nien U21 International Football Tournament in HCM City on November 22. (Photo: thethaovietnam.vn) Hanoi (VNA) - U21 Vietnam defeated U21 Thailand 4-2 in their first Group A match at the Thanh Nien Newspaper's U21 International Football Tournament in HCM City on November 22.
Vietnam opened the scoring in the sixth and 13th minutes of the match thanks to Pham Van Thanh and Ho Tuan Tai.
However, before the first half closed, Thailand levelled the score at 2-2.
After the break, Lam Ti Phong and Pham Xuan Manh opened the gap for Vietnam to 4-2 in the 49th and 56th minute.
With this win, U21 Vietnam temporarily took the lead in Group A with three points, followed by U21 Singapore and U21 Thailand.
In other Group B match on November 22, U19 Republic of Korea crushed U21 Myanmar 2-0 to top the group and secured a ticket to compete in the semi-finals.
Coach Eric Williams of Myanmar called together the players from the U19 team that defeated U19 Vietnam in the final of Hassanal Bolkiah last year, as well as other players who competed in the 2015 World Cup U20.
Myanmar's experience was better than the youngsters from the Republic of Korea, so they created many opportunities to score in the first half.
In the 40th minute, Than Paing coolly launched his header towards Korea's goalkeeper at a distance of 5m, but the Korean goalie saved the goal.
However, Korean players did not miss chances in the final minutes of the first half, as Kang Ji-hun overcame Myanmar's goalie to open their score in the 45th minute.
Myanmar played attack continuously to level the score in the second half, but they had to surrender to the Korean's defence line.
The Republic of Korea proved very dangerous in counter-attack situations. Kim Jeong-hwan doubled the score to 2-0 for his team in the 70th minute.
In the remaining time, the Republic of Korea played in defence to hold onto their lead.
Also losing to the Republic of Korea, Myanmar and Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) will meet in the final group match on November 24 to earn a ticket to the semi-finals. The winner will company with the Republic of Korea in the event's next stage.-VNA
