Vietnamese and Philippine players at their squads' AFF U22 match on Feb 17 (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam came back from a goal down to defeat Philippines2-1 in their Group A match of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) U22 YouthChampionship, said an article on the official website of the Asian FootballConfederation (AFC).
Accordingto the article, Vietnam was highly valued following the exploits of theirsenior and U23 teams over the last 12 months. It said the squad has proved theywill be a force to be reckoned with in the 2019 AFF U22 Championship as theyshowed great determination to fight back after the Philippines had taken thelead against the run of play in the 51st minute. The article considered thePhilippines’ goal totally unexpected as Vietnam had several opportunities toopen the scoring in the first half.
The articlepraised Le Minh Binh, who scored the second goal for the team at the 78thminute, after the first one was made by Tran Danh Trung at the 74th minute. Itwrote that the player, “having spurned several chances earlier, was their heroas Vietnam then ran down the clock to seal the three points.”
Indonesiannewspaper Bolalob, meanwhile, noted that Vietnam faced various difficulties towin the match. After Philippine player Christian Lapas made a surprise score inthe 51st minute, Vietnam poured great efforts to strike back with two goalsscored by Tran Danh Trung and Le Minh Binh, it said.
An articlepublished on the Philippine newspaper Tiebreaker Times said the Vietnamesesquad dominated the 90-minute match and deserved to obtain all three points.
Accordingto the article, it took Vietnam until the 74th minute to finally break thePhilippines down, with substitute striker Tran Danh Trung converting Le XuanTu’s cross from close range to level the game. Le Minh Binh then capitalised onthe Philippines’ poor defence to score the winning goal in the 78th minute.
The AFF U22Youth Championship kicked off in Cambodia on February 17. Participating teamsare divided into two groups and playing in the round-robin format. The two bestteams of each group will advance to the semi-finals. All the matches are takingplace at the Phnom Penh National Olympic Stadium.
Vietnamwill continue to face Timor Leste on February 19 and Thailand two days later. –VNA
VNA
