Golden opportunity for U17 Vietnam
In a very difficult group in the 2025 AFC U17 qualifiers, Vietnam U17 gradually overcame obstacles to win a ticket to the final round, as one of the 5 second-place teams with the best results (ranked 2nd, after China U17).
Against U17 Kyrgyzstan, coach Cristiano Roland and his team were held to a 0-0 draw, but the bright spot was that the players played confidently, dared to deploy and control the tempo of the match.
In the match against U17 Myanmar, patience and perseverance helped U17 Vietnam explode in the second half with 2 goals. Finally, when facing U17 Yemen, Viet Long and his teammates played calmly and confidently to ensure a 1-1 draw to secure a ticket to the next round.
In fact, U17 Vietnam has not had an impressive performance in the 2025 U17 Asian qualifiers. However, the strong mentality, solid playing style and discipline in tactics are what the players who are only 15-16 years old have shown. Thanks to that, they have successfully won a ticket to the Asian finals next year - something that their senior U20 Vietnam players could not do a few months ago.
The achievements of U17 Vietnam have somewhat dispelled the gray color that has covered Vietnamese football over the past year, with negative results in the national team and U20 Vietnam. The ticket to Saudi Arabia also helps U17 Vietnam open up a new opportunity, which is to realize the World Cup dream for the first time in history.
The format and classification of the U17 Asian Cup finals are quite favorable for U17 Vietnam to reach the world's door. Accordingly, 8 out of 16 teams participating in the continental tournament will be selected by FIFA to participate in the U17 World Cup taking place in Qatar. This means that if they win 1 of the top 2 positions right from the group stage, U17 Vietnam will have a ticket to the World Cup.
A promising phase
Perhaps it was not until 2016 that U16 or U17 Vietnam was so close to the opportunity to participate in a World Cup. Compared to the "50-50" knockout match against Iran 8 years ago, the possibility of U17 Vietnam participating in the world arena is now more open and easier.
Starting with the classification of seed groups to arrange the group for the 2025 AFC U17 Finals. Although Vietnam U17 is in seed group 3 (due to poor performance in the previous tournament), they still have the right to expect a favorable group. Excluding the very strong group 1 teams such as Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Uzbekistan and Japan, coach Roland and his team can be optimistic about gaining points and competing for second place in the group with two of the same group such as Yemen, Thailand, Afghanistan (seed group 2) or Oman, UAE, DPRK (seed group 4).
Besides the great opportunity in the 2025 AFC U17 Finals, Vietnam U17 also has more expectations for a bright period after that, coming from FIFA's decision. Because, for 5 consecutive years from 2025 to 2029, the U17 World Cup will be held continuously with the goal of developing and creating conditions for young players.
This is a great motivation for the Vietnam Football Federation to focus and invest more in U17 - the first youth team at the national team level.
The U17 World Cup is not only a historic opportunity for young Vietnamese players to experience at least once in the next 5 years. It is also an opportunity and a lever for developing football countries like Vietnam to accelerate compared to the current cycle.
