The lucky draw put U17 Vietnam in a difficult group in the 2025 U17 Asian Cup finals. Coach Cristiano Roland and his team are in Group B with U17 Japan, U17 Australia and U17 UAE.
Compared to the other 3 teams, U17 Vietnam is considered weaker. Therefore, to prepare for the goal of winning a ticket to the 2025 U17 World Cup finals, U17 Vietnam has made careful preparations.
Gia Bao and his teammates had a training trip to Oman and won both friendly matches against the home team U17 Oman. In those two matches, coach Cristiano Roland took the initiative to let his students play defensive counter-attacks. The U17 Vietnam players performed quite well the coaching staff's tactics to get good results.
This helps young players have high spirit, confidence and determination to enter the official tournament.
On the other side, U17 Australia is a very strong opponent, possessing a superior advantage in terms of physique and fitness. The young team of the land of the jack-o-lanterns is very likely to try to take advantage of their physical advantage to play long ball and high ball against the U17 Vietnam team.
Similar to U17 Vietnam, U17 Australia is also well prepared for the 2025 U17 Asian Cup finals. Coach Brad Maloney and his team have had 2 friendly matches. They scored 7 goals. However, the defense also revealed loopholes when conceding 6 goals.
Against a strong opponent, coach Cristiano Roland of the U17 Vietnam team affirmed: "This is an important moment and we have prepared many different tactics after the players have shown their abilities. The whole team is ready for the first match. I have also considered some possible scenarios and the team must have a change. Everything is prepared. Every match of U17 Vietnam is a final match.
Physical condition is not a strength of U17 Vietnam. This requires the team to focus especially on high-profile and set-piece situations. We have prepared carefully and believe the players will do well. The important thing is to maintain maximum concentration throughout the 90 minutes".
In the past, in the last 3 meetings in the Asian and Southeast Asian tournaments, U17 Vietnam won 2 and drew 1. However, when the opponent has more advantages, Gia Bao and his teammates cannot be subjective.
Given the ability to play long balls and ball well of U17 Australia, U17 Vietnam needs to practice the intercepting method carefully, closely following the opponent's field. The important thing is that coach Cristiano Roland's team must change the state very quickly, taking advantage of every opportunity.
For youth football, mentality plays a very important role. Therefore, as long as they have confidence and courage, U17 Vietnam has the opportunity to make a difference in the opening match.
The match between U17 Vietnam and U17 Australia will take place at 22:00 today (April 4) Vietnam time.
