Football

Việt Nam players (in red) against Thailand during the final of the AFF Women's U19 Football Championship on July 15 in Indonesia. Thailand won 2-1. Photo courtesy of AFF

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam won silver in the AFF Women's U19 Football Championship on July 15 in Palembang, Indonesia.

Việt Nam lost 2-1 to the defending champions Thailand, marking their third time finishing in second place at the regional tournament.

The Thai team opened their attack right after the first whistle, pressuring Vietnamese defenders.

It was goalie Danh Thị Kiều My who denied Thailand's attempts at the seventh and 12th minutes.

Việt Nam was busy saving their net until the 23rd minute when they had their first attempt. Captain Bảo Trâm got the ball from a corner kick and made a straight shot which was blocked by Thai defenders.

Ten minutes later, forward Ngọc Minh Chuyên broke through the right wing and made a long-distance finish but it was a hair gap short of getting past goalkeeper Chalisa Phungoen.

Forward Lưu Hoàng Vân was also in a one-on-one with Phungoen but she could not open the score in the last seconds of the first half.

Six minutes after the interval the Thais opened the score but their attempted goal was offside.

Coach Akira made several changes as Thanh Hiếu and Lý Linh Trang were brought onto the field with a view to strengthening Việt Nam's front line.

But before they got a chance to prove themselves, the Thais finally opened the score at the 69th minute. Supraporn Intaraprasit 's powerful shot from 30m beat Kiều My who had earlier denied a narrow-angle finish by Praewa Nudnabee.

Four minutes later Thanchanok Jansri made it 2-0, also from a long-distance shot.

Việt Nam pushed up speed and found a goal at the 75th minute by Linh Trang.

In the rest time, both two sides created threatening opportunities but none of them were converted into a goal.

Việt Nam received silver while forward Chuyên was the top scorer with five goals and Kiều My was the best keeper of the tournament.

In the meantime, Myanmar came in third after beating hosts Indonesia 4-2 on penalties.

The score at the end of regulation was 1-1.

Yin Loon Eain had given Myanmar the lead at the half-hour mark before Indonesia replied through Marsela Alwi’s 50-minute penalty. VNS