After the second match of the 2027 U17 Asian Cup finals, U17 Japan leads Group B with 4 points, ranked second by U17 UAE (3 points), U17 Vietnam (2 points) and U17 Australia (1 point). In this group, no team is sure to continue, nor has any team been eliminated.
In the final round, U17 Japan will meet U17 Australia. Meanwhile, U17 Vietnam will meet U17 UAE. To win a ticket to the quarter-finals and have a place in the FIFA U17 World Cup 2025, U17 Vietnam only has one chance, which is to beat U17 UAE. If they draw or lose, Cristiano Roland and his team will be eliminated.
Defeating U17 UAE is within the capabilities of U17 Vietnam. The West Asian team has played 2 matches in this year's tournament. They lost 1-4 to Japan U17 in the opening match, then beat Australia U17 2-0 despite creating a game where they did not completely overwhelm their opponents.
Historically, U17 UAE 3 times attending the FIFA U17 World Cup, last time in 2013. In the Asian playground, the Western Asian team had 7 times in the final round, as of 2015. The best achievement in the Asian tournament was in the semi -finals in 2008. In the last time it was in the No. 1 tournament in the continent in 2016, U17 UAEE stopped in the quarter -finals.
At this year's U17 Asian tournament, coach Majeb Al-Zaabi called up 23 players to the UAE U17 team. Of these, 21 players are competing domestically, only 2 are competing abroad. Notably among them is striker Jayden Adetiba, who is playing for Arsenal U18.
Adetiba is a highly expected player. However, in the past 2 matches, this striker has only been a reserve. In the match against U17 Japan, he only entered the field from the 46th minute, to the win over U17 Australia, this player entered the field from the 74th minute.
In the match against U17 Vietnam, U17 UAE will not have the service of midfielder Ali Hassan because he received a red card in the win over U17 Australia.
Another notable point of the U17 UAE is that they are familiar with Southeast Asian teams. In the qualifying round, the West Asian team won U17 Laos 5-2 and beat U17 Malaysia 2-0.
However, U17 Vietnam is no stranger to Asian youth teams. In the qualifying round, coach Roland's team drew 1-1 with U17 Yemen. In preparation for the Asian tournament, U17 Vietnam continued to have 2 friendly matches with U17 Oman and won both with a score of 1-0.
The match between U17 Vietnam vs U17 UAE will take place at 22:00 on April 10.
