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, markingtheir 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 atthe 7th and 12th minutes.
Vietnam was busy saving their net until the 23rd minute when theyhad their first attempt. Captain Bao Tram got the ball from a corner kick andmade a straight shot which was blocked by Thai defenders.
Ten minutes later, forward Ngoc Minh Chuyen broke through theright wing and made a long-distance finish but it was a hair gap short of gettingpast goalkeeper Chalisa Phungoen.
Forward Luu Hoang Van was also in a one-on-one with Phungoen butshe could not open the score in the last seconds of the first half.
Six minutes after the interval the Thais opened the score buttheir attempted goal was offside.
Coach Akira made several changes as Thanh Hieu and Ly Linh Trangwere brought onto the field with a view to strengthening Vietnam's front line.
But before they got a chance to prove themselves, the Thaisfinally opened the score in the 69th minute. Supraporn Intaraprasit 's powerfulshot from 30m beat Kieu My who had earlier denied a narrow-angle finish byPraewa Nudnabee.
Four minutes later Thanchanok Jansri made it 2-0, also from along-distance shot.
Vietnam pushed up speed and found a goal in the 75th minute byLinh Trang.
In the rest time, both two sides created threatening opportunitiesbut none of them were converted into a goal.
Vietnam received silver while forward Chuyen was the top scorerwith five goals and Kieu My was the best keeper of the tournament.
In the meantime, Myanmar came in third after beating hostsIndonesia 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 markbefore Indonesia replied through Marsela Alwi’s 50-minute penalty./.