Coach Hoang Anh Tuan: 'Vietnam U20 was eliminated harshly'
In the last round of the group stage on the afternoon of March 7, Vietnam lost 1-3 to Iran, while Australia crushed Qatar 9-1. Together with six points through three matches, Vietnam, Iran and Qatar must consider direct confrontation to determine two places to enter the quarterfinals. Accordingly, with the same three points, but Vietnam ranked third due to the lowest head-to-head goal difference of -1, while Iran was +1 and Australia was 0.
After the match, coach Hoang Anh Tuan apologized to the fans for not completing the task, but also expressed regret. "We were severely disqualified because of the tournament rules," he said.
On the Istiqlol field, Vietnam conceded a goal in the 36th minute after captain Mohammad Amin Hazbavi's header. Adjustments in the second half helped the team equalize in the 56th minute thanks to Khuat Van Khang. However, in the 75th minute, Amirreza Eslamtalab dribbled to break Vietnam's defense system, before stretching the cross for Saeid Saharkhizan to shoot to increase the score to 2-1 for Iran.
Mr. Tuan said the game changed a lot after the equalizer, but when Vietnam was about to make a substitution and change tactics, they suddenly lost the second goal. The Khanh Hoa military leader then directed the players to try to put the ball up, but it was difficult because of the tall Iranian defense.
In the fourth minute of injury time, Hosseinnezhad scored to make Iran 3-1 after a quick counter-attack. At that time, Vietnam needs to score a goal, because a score of 2-3 will help the team move on. But all efforts of Mr. Tuan's teachers and students were unsuccessful.
Despite being eliminated from the group stage, Vietnam still made many impressions when winning against two strong teams, Qatar and Australia. The performance of the players shows that this is a potential group of players such as goalkeeper Cao Van Binh, midfielder Le Nguyen Hoang, midfielders Khuat Van Khang, Nguyen Van Truong or striker Nguyen Quoc Viet. "The players are only in their twenties and have a lot of time ahead," coach Hoang Anh Tuan expected. "I believe this generation will contribute a lot to the national team."
