Overseas Vietnamese player leaves mark in Vietnam U17's victory

According to the original schedule, U17 Vietnam will have a practice match with Bac Ninh club this afternoon (March 5) at the Vietnam Youth Football Center. However, the plan has suddenly changed. U17 PVF has been chosen to replace Bac Ninh club as the "blue team" for U17 Vietnam.

Coach Cristiano Roland said that Bac Ninh club has just changed the coaching staff. Therefore, the National Second Division team cannot participate in the match.

With the nature of a practice match, the match between U17 Vietnam and U17 PVF took place in 3 halves, each lasting 30 minutes. Coach Roland tested many playing options with all 34 players. U17 Vietnam won 3-0 thanks to goals from Duc Nhat, Anh Kiet and Hong Phong.

Although he did not score, Vietnamese-American player Thomas Mai Veeren still received praise. The Vietnam Football Federation's homepage commented: "Thomas Mai Veereen had the opportunity to show his ability for most of the first half and showed great effort and determination."

Overseas Vietnamese player Thomas Mai Veeren (number 33) played in the first round.

"Vietnam U17 has only been practicing for 2 days, some players are just joining the training camp for the first time, so the team still has many things to improve to achieve the goals set by the coaching staff. The connection between the players is not good yet, so we still have a lot to do ahead," the head coach of Vietnam U17 assessed.

Mr. Roland said that despite the change of opponent compared to the original plan, this practice match still met the requirements of U17 Vietnam. The Brazilian coach needed a real match to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the players and improve before entering the final round of U17 Asia 2025.

"Next, we will discuss with the players about what we need to do better. I understand that the team still has many factors that need to be improved. U17 Vietnam achieved the set goal in today's match.

The coaching staff will try to motivate the players to integrate as quickly as possible and understand the ideas the coach wants to convey. The players who understand this and meet the requirements the most will be selected. After only 2 training sessions and 1 match, U17 Vietnam still has a lot to do ahead," said coach Roland.

Xiao Ming

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/overseas-player-scored-in-the-winning-match-of-u17-viet-nam-ar929881.html