HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s U19 football team reluctantly bowed out after losing to Australia 1-2 in their second Group C game at the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U19 Championship finals in Indonesia on Monday.

They entered the game with an advantage, as Australian captain Sebastian Pasquali was out injured.

In the 10th minute, an attempt by Apostolos Stamatelopoulos went just wide. Many more close misses from the Australian team followed.

Twenty-eight minutes later, Angus Thurgate opened the scoring for Australia after easily beating goalkeeper Y Eli Nie.

In the 43rd minute, Ben Folami had a strong attempt denied by attentive play by the Vietnamese goalkeeper.

As the second half started, Australia adopted a more defensive stance to maintain their advantage, giving Việt Nam the space to craft more chances.

In the 75th minute, shortly after Văn Xuân and Tiến Anh were replaced by Văn Văn and Minh Bình, Folami doubled the lead for Australia.

Việt Nam had a chance to narrow the gap two minutes later, but Minh Bình failed to score.

Văn Nam replaced Nguyễn Hữu Thắng in Việt Nam’s final substitution and showed his fighting spirit, bringing the score to 1-2 in the 85th minute.

Speaking at the press conference after the game, head coach Hoàng Anh Tuấn said, “We did have a good game. It was bad fortune for us as the loss in first half ruined all our plans. My players have fought hard, but Australia was stronger and we have much to learn after this match.”

Việt Nam will next meet South Korean on October 25. — VNS