Vietnamese players (in red) against Thailand during the final of the AFF Women's U19 Football Championship on July 15 in Indonesia. Thailand won 2-1. (Photo courtesy of AFF) Vietnam lost 2-1 to the defending champions Thailand, marking their third time finishing in second place at the regional tournament.
The Thai team opened their attack right after the first whistle, pressuring Vietnamese defenders.
It was goalie Danh Thi Kieu My who denied Thailand's attempts at the 7th and 12th minutes.
Vietnam was busy saving their net until the 23rd minute when they had their first attempt. Captain Bao Tram got the ball from a corner kick and made a straight shot which was blocked by Thai defenders.
Ten minutes later, forward Ngoc Minh Chuyen broke through the right wing and made a long-distance finish but it was a hair gap short of getting past goalkeeper Chalisa Phungoen.
Forward Luu Hoang Van was also in a one-on-one with Phungoen but she could not open the score in the last seconds of the first half.
Six minutes after the interval the Thais opened the score but their attempted goal was offside.
Coach Akira made several changes as Thanh Hieu and Ly Linh Trang were brought onto the field with a view to strengthening Vietnam's front line.
But before they got a chance to prove themselves, the Thais finally opened the score in the 69th minute. Supraporn Intaraprasit 's powerful shot from 30m beat Kieu My who had earlier denied a narrow-angle finish by Praewa Nudnabee.
Four minutes later Thanchanok Jansri made it 2-0, also from a long-distance shot.
Vietnam pushed up speed and found a goal in the 75th minute by Linh Trang.
In the rest time, both two sides created threatening opportunities but none of them were converted into a goal.
Vietnam received silver while forward Chuyen was the top scorer with five goals and Kieu My was the best keeper of the tournament.
In the meantime, Myanmar came in third after beating hosts Indonesia 4-2 on penalties.
The score at the end of regulation was 1-1.
Yin Loon Eain had given Myanmar the lead at the half-hour mark before Indonesia replied through Marsela Alwi’s 50-minute penalty./.
VNA
