The U23 team have written a new page in the history of Vietnamese football after winning a ticket to the quarterfinals of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Championship in China on January 17.

Football players from U23 Vietnam and U23 Syria

The accomplishment has received a lot of compliments from the international media.

The organiser AFC posted a story on its home page titled “Draw takes Vietnam into quarter-finals”.

It quoted the team head coach Park Hang-seo as saying "I want to thank my players, they played as a team today with an excellent spirit. We wanted to win (the match), but my players were physically tired, so our performance dropped a little. I made substitutions at the right time to fix this issue.”

Meanwhile, the Fox Sports Asia carried an article under the title “AFC U-23 Championship: Brave Vietnam reach quarter-finals” by journalist Gabriel Tan who wrote that a resolute display by Vietnam has seen them qualify for the knockout round of the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship with a 0-0 draw against Syria on January 17.

“Despite coming up against tremendous pressure from the Syrians at the Changshu Stadium, a heroic defensive showing by Vietnam was enough to earn a point,” it wrote.

Thailand’s Siam Sports described the achievement of the U23 Vietnam as a pride of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Vietnam had a strong defense plan against a rival with outstanding physical strength, it said.

The Thai version of Four Four Two newspaper also gave a lot of compliments to the U23 Vietnam, saying the team has made history with the second place in Group D after the Republic of Korea.

The Thai Rath newspaper said Vietnam’s young football has surpassed Thailand to become the locomotive of the Southeast Asian region.

PM sends congratulations to U23 Vietnam

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has congratulated the U23 Vietnam on their success at the Asian Football Confederation U23 Championship, going through to the quarter-finals.

Vietnamese footballers drew their Syrian rivals in the last group match on January 17 in China, earning a slot in the quarterfinals of the tournament for the first time in history.

With four points after three games, Vietnam ranked second behind the Republic of Korea and became one of the eight strongest teams in the continental competition.

In his congratulatory letter, the Prime Minister said he was very glad to hear from the U23 Vietnam team. They gave good performance at the continental tournament to enter the quarterfinals for the first time, bringing pride to the nation, and showing the young Vietnamese generation’s will.

He praised the effort of head coach Park Hang-seo and the whole team. He hoped that they will continue shining in the next match.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien also sent a letter of congratulations to the U23 squad.

The Minister announced a bonus of 200 million VND (9,000 USD) to the U23s. At the same time the Vietnam Football Federation also delivered a 1.4 billion VND (63,000 USD) bonus for their miracle in China.

VNA