Dinh Bac (R) celebrates his opening goal with Khuat Van Khang (Photo: SGGP)
On September 12, Group C qualifiers for the 2024 AFC U23 Championship concluded with a match between the host team, Vietnam, and Singapore. The Vietnamese players had already secured a place in the finals as the top team in the group, while Singapore had no hopes left as they lost 5-1 to Yemen in the previous match, securing second place in the group.
Through this match, Coach Philippe Troussier wanted to create more opportunities for the substitute players. Additionally, many players who will attend the upcoming 2022 Asian Games were also in the field.
Because the match had no impact on Vietnam’s advance to the finals, it was not surprising that Coach Philippe Troussier made up to eight changes in the starting lineup of U23 Vietnam, retaining only Ngoc Thang, Thai Son, and Van Toan from the previous two matches, core players such as Duy Cuong, Van Khang, Van Cuong, Vi Hao, were still present.
In the 13th minute, U23 Vietnam took a 1-0 lead from a penalty shootout by Dinh Bac. Earlier, forward Vi Hao was fouled by the Singaporean goalkeeper inside the goal area.
The second half saw Singapore pushing forward with an attacking formation in search of an equalizer. In the 58th minute, Singapore leveled the score at 1-1, but it came from an own goal by Nhat Nam. The back-and-forth scoring continued, with Huu Nam scoring to make it 2-1 for Vietnam in the 77th minute. However, the opponent team once again equalized in the 84th minute.
The game ended 2-2 with Vietnam keeping the top spot of Group C with 7 points. After the qualifiers, half of the team will join the training sessions with the Vietnamese Olympic football team, currently led by Coach Hoang Anh Tuan, to prepare for the upcoming 2022 Asian Games.
By Quoc Cuong - Translated by Hong Son