The confidence of U17 Vietnam
Unlike 1 year ago, the journey at the AFC U17 Championship finals of U17 Vietnam continues. Coach Cristiano Roland's team excellently passed the group stage with the first place in Group C (6 points), thereby reaching the quarterfinals as well as for the first time winning a ticket to the U17 World Cup.
Looking from 3 matches against U17 Yemen, U17 UAE and U17 South Korea, U17 Vietnam shows a well-organized and attacking style of play.
According to statistics from the Asian Football Confederation, U17 Vietnam belongs to the group of 3 teams with the sharpest ability to convert opportunities in the tournament (25%).
More impressively, U17 Vietnam has a solid and confident playing mentality against all opponents. Especially, in the key match against U17 UAE, even when the opponent took the lead very early, Nguyen Luc and his teammates still calmly organized the game, boldly held the ball and coordinated lines. When U17 UAE put the ball into their own half, Minh Thuy, Nguyen Luc... also did not rush to clear long balls upwards but slowly controlled and passed the ball at short distances before coordinating to move forward.
Winning a ticket to the U17 World Cup for the first time in history helps young players become more confident.
Midfielder Minh Thuy said: "U17 Vietnam will confidently aim for the match against U17 Australia. The goal of the whole team is to try to go as deep as possible in this year's tournament.
If they overcome U17 Australia, U17 Vietnam will have at least 1 more match ahead. In addition to definitely winning a medal, coach Cristiano Roland's team will have more opportunities to rub against a strong opponent, creating a foundation towards the 2026 U17 World Cup finals taking place in November.
U17 Australia unpredictable
U17 Australia finished Group D in second place after 1 win against U17 India and 1 defeat when facing U17 Uzbekistan. The strengths and weaknesses of the kangaroo team have all been revealed through these two matches.
According to statistics from AFC, the U17 Australia defense suffered up to 39 shots from 2 opponents. This team's long-range defense often reveals gaps, loses control, especially easily makes mistakes if the opponent continuously puts pressure. In the finishing stage, U17 Australia players are quite hasty and inaccurate in the final handling situations.
U17 Australia also ranked third in average weight (72.26kg). Meanwhile, U17 Vietnam only achieved an average of 1.73m and 65.65kg. Therefore, U17 Australia will thoroughly exploit aerial situations when facing U17 Vietnam in the upcoming match.
Regarding personnel, U17 Australia has changed quite a lot compared to the defeat in the Southeast Asian semi-finals a few weeks ago. Anyway, the past has witnessed many times U17 Vietnam overcame U17 Australia in regional and continental tournaments. With rising confidence, the possibility of coach Roland and his team continuing to create surprises in Jeddah is entirely possible.
The match between U17 Vietnam and U17 Australia in the quarter-finals of the 2026 AFC U17 Championship takes place at 0:00 on May 17.
