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Why Vietnam U20s Finishing Last Would Be Such Bad News for the U17 World Cup Team

From Tuổi Trẻ · () Vietnamese

Translated from Vietnamese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Vietnam’s U20 team sits last in Group C of Asian Cup qualifying after two matches, with no points and a minus-four goal difference.
  • The bottom six of the eight weakest teams in the 2027 qualifying competition will drop into a lower development tier.
  • A relegation would force Vietnam’s U20 team to pursue qualification for the 2031 tournament, potentially denying the current U17 generation a place in the 2029 U20 Asian Cup.

Vietnam’s U17 team could reach the 2026 World Cup yet lose the chance to compete at the next U20 Asian Cup because of the senior youth team’s current struggle. The U20 side is at risk of finishing last in Group C of qualifying for the 2027 tournament.

The Asian Football Confederation’s format does more than decide which teams reach the finals in China. Eight group winners and seven runners-up will qualify, while six of the eight worst last-place teams will be relegated to the Development tier.

That lower tier contains 12 teams divided into three groups of four. The top six teams from those groups will qualify for the 2029 U20 Asian Cup qualifying competition. The other six will remain in Group B and compete for access to the 2031 qualifiers.

If Vietnam finishes last in Group C, coach Yutaka Ikeuchi’s team could be relegated. Vietnam would then miss the route to the 2029 U20 Asian Cup finals and instead have to compete in the lower group for a chance to enter the 2031 qualifying campaign.

That outcome could prevent many members of Vietnam’s 2026 U17 World Cup squad from playing at the U20 Asian Cup. The article describes the missing competition as a serious gap in the development of a generation that currently carries high expectations.

About this summary

Originally published by Tuổi Trẻ in Vietnamese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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