Meeting in the opening match and then rematching in the final match, this is something not every tournament has witnessed. U17 Vietnam and U17 Malaysia have done that. U17 Vietnam won 4-0 in the group stage, 11 days later, will it be another victory or an upside-down result?
Both sides have reasons to maintain their trust.
Looking back at the journey the two teams have gone through, it can be seen that there are two very different states, in which, for U17 Vietnam is persuasiveness and for U17 Malaysia is maturity in tenacity.
The state of U17 Vietnam is more noticeable, at least through the statistics and performance. Three matches in the group stage scored up to 14 goals without conceding and then came back to eliminate defending champion U17 Australia in the semi-finals.
Going further is the way Chu Ngoc Nguyen Luc and his teammates performed. They showed exactly what coach Cristiano Roland aimed for, were loyal to the plan and had enough patience to implement it.
The organization is very high, but at the same time it also hides a breakthrough factor - seen through the free kick combination that Nguyen Luc sealed the score 2-1 against U17 Australia in the semi-finals. Of course, Nguyen Luc is also a very noteworthy factor, with skills as well as the ability to adjust the tempo.
As for U17 Malaysia, starting with a 0-4 defeat is clearly a very strong punch to the psychology, especially in a tournament where only the top 3 teams in the group are guaranteed a semi-final spot. But the important thing afterwards is that they stood up - won 2 matches, to become the second team in the group with the best results.
As coach Shukor Adan said, the squad of the "little tiger" participating in the tournament is U16, with half being U15. Therefore, when considering this as a learning process, it is clear that Mr. Adan's students have learned very quickly, very well.
Because in the next three matches, they all won – with increasing goals, and without conceding.
The important question for the final is after the group stage match and the journey, what will be in tonight's match?
It has a bridge-like nature when U17 Vietnam won 4-0, so it will easily win again? Is there pressure from U17 Malaysia when they have witnessed the strength of the opponent?
It may be, but football has never been an easy-to-solve problem. Because usually when meeting again, the efforts of the losing side before that will be exponential.
Moreover, at U17 Malaysia currently there are conditions to play more comfortably than not being expected too much, along with the motivation to demand revenge.
Conversely, U17 Vietnam is still asked whether they are subjective or not and whether they can relieve the pressure to win the championship after an impressive journey or not?
No matter what, we still have to return to the most potential variable of youth football, which is... youth. Therefore, if they maintain their emotions and rhythm of play, U17 Vietnam can win in 90 minutes.
U17 Vietnam 1-0 U17 Malaysia
