After a 1-2 defeat to U19 Indonesia, U19 Vietnam closed the group stage with second place in Group A and still has a chance to win a ticket to the semi-finals of the 2026 U19 Southeast Asian Championship.
Coach Yutaka Ikeuchi's team won 6 points after 3 matches, successively defeating U19 Timor Leste 3-0, defeating U19 Myanmar 5-0 before losing to host Indonesia.
According to the tournament regulations, when comparing the achievements of the second-placed teams, the result with the bottom-ranked team will not be counted (because Group C only has 3 teams). This makes the achievement of U19 Vietnam converted to 3 points with a goal difference of +4.
To win a spot in the semi-finals as the second-placed team with the best results, U19 Vietnam needs to wait for favorable results from the remaining two groups.
In Group B, the first scenario is that U19 Brunei must be at the bottom of the group. At that time, U19 Thailand and U19 Malaysia are forced to decide the winner in the final round. If the two teams draw, both are likely to advance together and U19 Vietnam will be disadvantaged.
In case U19 Singapore is the bottom team in the group, U19 Vietnam needs U19 Malaysia to lose to U19 Thailand or U19 Thailand to lose to U19 Malaysia with a difference of 6 goals or more. This is a condition for the second-placed team in Group B not to surpass Vietnam's achievement.
In Group C, U19 Vietnam's chances will be wide open if U19 Australia defeats U19 Cambodia. Another possibility is that U19 Cambodia wins but must have a gap of 7 goals or more against U19 Australia. At that time, the second-placed team in Group C cannot have better stats than U19 Vietnam.
The semi-final door is not yet closed for U19 Vietnam. However, Cong Hau and his teammates no longer have the right to self-determination and must wait for favorable results from Group B and Group C to nurture hopes of going further.
