Vietnam came from behind to edge the United Arab Emirates 3-2 in a thrilling AFC U17 Asian Cup Group C tie in Saudi Arabia last night to seal a spot in the quarter-finals.
The victory earned Vietnam top spot in Group C on six points, one better than Korea Republic, with both teams also securing their berths at the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2026.
Vietnam will play Australia in the quarter-finals with Korea to face defending champions Uzbekistan.
UAE got off to a dream start, scoring after just 16 seconds when Hussain Yousuf slipped Sultan Nasir into the box to smash the ball home.
Vietnam spurned a great chance to equalise in the eighth minute after Le Trong Dai Nhan picked out Nguyen Van Duong with a square pass in the box but the latter ballooned his effort over the bar.
Van Duong fared better in the 20th minute, firing a rasping shot from outside the box but UAE custodian Joshua Bentley was equal to the attempt, pushing the ball out for a corner kick.
The Southeast Asian side were not to be denied four minutes before the break as Chu Ngoc Nguyen Luc curled a free-kick beyond Bentley’s dive and into the corner to send the tie into the interval on level terms.
Vietnam head coach Cristiano Roland and his UAE counterpart Majed Salem kept faith with their respective selections as they emerged for the second half unchanged.
It took Vietnam just three minutes to find the next goal, Dai Nhan with the perfect cutback for Van Duong to sidefoot the ball past Bentley.
UAE drew level in the 56th minute when Yousuf’s perseverance saw him prevent the ball from going behind before picking out Adam Mahrous, who curled a spectacular shot into the top corner.
The open game eventually turned in favour of Vietnam in the 68th minute as Nguyen Manh Cuong escaped his marker to thump home the winning goal from Nguyen Minh Thuy’s inswinging corner delivery.
Draw enough for Korea
Korea eased into the quarter-finals after playing out a goalless draw with Yemen in their concluding Group C tie at the King Abdullah Sports City Training Stadium.
Two-time champions Korea, who finished the group in second place behind Vietnam, will meet defending champions Uzbekistan on Saturday in the last eight while Yemen ended their campaign in third spot.
Korea got off to the faster start, with Ahn Joo-wan’s thunderous strike from outside the area rattling the crossbar in the eighth minute. The midfielder tried his luck again in the 16th through a free-kick, but saw his effort from the right of the box go sailing wide.
The East Asian side’s keeper Jang Jun-yeong had his first taste of action in the 19th minute when he calmly collected a low drive from Haitham Al Faqih.
Yemen’s Ahmed Nasser and Sailan Basheer both wasted chances while Korea’s Ahn found the back of the net on the half-hour mark only for his effort to be ruled offside as the sides went into the break without creating any concrete opportunities to break the deadlock.
Head coach Kim Hyun-jun made three substitutions for the second half with newcomer Park Ji-hu forcing a diving save from Yemen keeper Wesam Al-Asbahi in the 51st minute with a blistering shot from outside the area.
Jang proved an equally capable pair of hands at the other end when he tipped over a header from Mohammed Sadeq in the 58th minute, and then punched away the striker’s in-swinging attempt from the resulting corner.
Al-Asbahi pulled off two other saves from Kim Ji-woo’s fiercely-struck shot in the 69th minute and An Sun-hyun’s long-range effort off a set-piece five minutes later as Korea Republic doubled their efforts at an opening goal.
Kim and Koo Hun-min came close to ending the stalemate in the closing minutes but the scoreless result was enough to earn Korea their ticket to the knockout stage.
Uzbekistan takes top spot
Uzbekistan outplayed Australia 2-0 to take top spot in Group D at the King Abdullah Sports City Pitch A on Wednesday.
With both sides quarter-final berths booked prior to their face off, the defending champions will meet the Group C runners-up on Saturday while Australia will take on the group winners.
Both sides took some time to find their footing but Uzbekistan settled first, with Laziz Abduraimov heading just wide of the right post from the centre of the area in his side’s first clear look at goal.
The Central Asian side kept the pressure on as Akhrorbek Ravshanbekov and Abubakir Rakhimov made numerous forays upwards, with the latter seeing his close-range effort in the ninth minute denied by Australia custodian Charlie Wilson-Papps, who made another save from Sukhrob Sadirzhonov seven minutes later.
After numerous attempts, Uzbekistan’s persistence paid off in the 28th minute when a defence-splitting through ball from Sadirzhonov found Mirkomil Murodov, who drilled his shot from just inside the area into the bottom right corner past the helpless Australia keeper.
A constantly back-pedalling Australia were unable to make any inroads into their opponents’ 18-yard box for the first half hour, with their first shot on target coming from Oliver O’ Carroll, whose hesitant header in the 34th minute dropped straight into keeper Olimjon Shamuratov’s arms.
Uzbekistan doubled their lead seconds before the break when an unmarked Akhrorbek Ravshanbekov, latching on to a cut-back from Sadirzhonov, swept the ball in from the edge of the six-yard box past a diving Wilson-Pappas.
Uzbekistan continued their high-tempo game after the break as Sadirzhonov forced an instinctive save from the Australia keeper a minute into the restart, with Wilson-Pappas then going low to keep out Murodov’s strike in the 52nd minute.
The custodian made crucial saves from the ever-dangerous pair of Sadirzhonov and Murodov, with the former coming close to a third goal when he weaved down the left and sent a curling shot that missed the inside of the right post by inches.
Despite Australia’s best efforts to reduce the scoreline, Uzbekistan controlled the pace of the match until the final whistle to head into the knockout stage with maximum confidence.
