AFF U19 Women’s Championship 2025: Vietnam Finishes as Runners-up
Despite their great effort and determination, the Vietnam U19 women’s team fell short of winning the regional title, losing to Thailand in the final of the AFF U19 Women’s Championship 2025.
20/06/2025 09:59:04
Heading into the match, the Vietnam U19 women’s team fielded their strongest lineup, featuring the return of Thao Nguyen. On the other side, Thailand U19 women kept the same starting XI from their dominant semifinal win over Myanmar. The defending champions played more proactively, with their midfield effectively controlling possession. With five midfielders in their setup, Thailand were more effective in challenges and applied significant pressure on Vietnam’s defense.
Despite this, goalkeeper Le Thi Thu remained focused and helped minimize Thailand’s attacking threats. In the 9th minute, she confidently handled a direct shot from Nachanok, showcasing solid goalkeeping under pressure.
However, after keeping clean sheets in all four of their previous matches, Vietnam’s defense was finally breached in the 27th minute following a costly mistake. A poor touch from Thuy Linh allowed Rinyaphat to steal the ball. After a few skillful moves to get past Thuy Linh, the Thailand U19 captain fired a diagonal shot into the net, opening the scoring.
Conceding the goal forced Vietnam U19 to push their formation higher. The hosts responded well and began applying significant pressure on Thailand’s half.
Although Vietnam U19 created some promising attacking moments, they struggled with their ball handling inside the 16.5-meter box. This hesitation gave Thailand’s defenders enough time to track back and clear the danger, effectively shutting down the home team’s scoring opportunities.
At the start of the second half, Vietnam U19 made a substitution, bringing on Thuy Nga in place of Hong Hue in hopes of adding more intensity and creativity to the midfield. Just five minutes after the restart, the home side found an equalizer. Thao Nguyen delivered a long pass to Hoang Van, who broke through the defense and was brought down in the box by Pinyaphat, resulting in a penalty. Thuy Nga stepped up and calmly converted the spot kick to level the score at 1-1.
In the 61st minute, momentum shifted back in Thailand’s favor. Kurisara was fouled by Thao Nguyen inside the penalty area, and the striker herself made no mistake from the spot, restoring Thailand’s lead. Then, in the 69th minute, Chatpharaphorn fired a shot from around 18 meters out to extend the advantage for Thailand U19.
Trailing by two goals, Vietnam U19 pushed their lineup higher in the final 20 minutes in a determined effort to stage a comeback. However, Thailand U19 remained composed in defense, holding firm to secure the victory and claim the championship title.
In the third-place playoff, Indonesia U19 edged past Myanmar U19 with a 6-5 win in the penalty shootout, after the two teams played to a 0-0 draw in regular time.
