HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam lost 1-3 to Australia in the final Group I match of the AFC U16 Championship Malaysia 2018 qualifier held at the Mongolian Football Federation Football Centre in Ulaanbaatar yesterday.

The loss means Australia, the group leader, qualified for the next stage and also the tournament’s final round, while Việt Nam, the second-placed team, have to await the results of other group matches, if they want to play in the finals in Malaysia next year.

The qualification matches will end on September 29.

Việt Nam controlled the game early in the first half, but their long-range attempts could not get past Australian goalkeeper Ahmad Taleb.

However, Australia scored three goals thanks to the mistakes made by the Vietnamese defenders in the second half.

Captain Tyson Savas opened the score with his seventh goal of the tournament in the 62nd minute. Midfielder Ryan Teague doubled their advantage with a free kick 10 minutes later.

Tristan Hammond converted a penalty kick to make it 3-0 in the 79th minute.

Việt Nam’s only goal went to substitute forward Đậu Ngọc Thành, who scored in the 82nd minute.

After the match, coach Peter Cklamovski of Australia admitted Việt Nam were difficult opponents. They played really hard and made it challenging for us, he added.

He said Australia had improved in the last few months, and his players had done a good job yesterday. They aim to win next year’s final tournament, he added.

On the other side, coach Vũ Hồng Việt of Việt Nam congratulated Australia.

He said Việt Nam displayed good football in the first half, but in the second half, their defence lost concentration leading to the team’s defeat. — VNS