The final round of qualifying for the national U.19 tournament tomorrow afternoon, January 29, will help determine all the teams participating in the finals.
After 9 rounds, there are only 2 teams officially registered at the finals: HAGL and PVF. But other faces have almost appeared when only having to face easy challenges in the last round.
In Group A, Viettel and Hanoi both have 16 points after 7 matches, but Viettel is ranked higher thanks to their head-to-head advantage. There is also no team competing for the top 2 position of the two teams and the last round is only to determine the first and second team.
The possibility of Hanoi and Viettel continuing hand in hand is very high because in the last round, both will face easy opponents, Nam Dinh and Dao Ha Football Center.
In the first leg, Viettel easily won Dao Ha Football Center with a score of 6-0 despite fielding many reserve players. In the decisive final match, Viettel will field the strongest team and victory is within reach.
Meanwhile, Hanoi faces more challenges when facing Nam Dinh. However, Nam Dinh no longer has the motivation to play, which will also make it easier for Hanoi to play. In the first leg, Hanoi was still mentally depressed but still beat Nam Dinh 4-0. If they win against Nam Dinh, even though Hanoi will not win first place in the group, they will definitely be the owner of the qualifying ticket for the four second-place teams with the best results.
In Group B, PVF officially won the top spot after having 19 points after 7 matches. The final match against Hanoi Police is just an opportunity for PVF to test young players.
Defending champion Thanh Hoa with 16 points after 7 matches will definitely finish second in the group. However, if they win against Luxury Ha Long, Thanh Hoa will definitely be the owner of the final ticket for the 4 second-place teams with the best results. Winning Ha Long is an easy task for Thanh Hoa as they won the first leg 2-0.
In Group C, SLNA missed the opportunity to win early tickets when losing 1-2 to Thua Thien Hue in the previous round. Despite losing this match, SLNA still holds the top position in the table with 16 points after 7 matches, 2 points more than Hue. The Nghe team still has the right to self-determination as they only need to win against Quang Nam in the final round to protect the top spot. At this time, Quang Nam has officially been eliminated, so SLNA will breathe much easier than the 2-1 win in the first leg.
Hue will only win the top spot in the table if they win against Song Tra Quang Ngai and at the same time SLNA loses points to Quang Nam. But if they win against Quang Ngai, even if Hue finishes second, they (with 17 points) still have many chances to be the owner of the final ticket for the four second-place teams with the best results. To be sure of getting a ticket, Hue needed to beat Quang Ngai as strongly as possible and in the first leg, Hue beat Quang Ngai 6-0.
The situation in Group D is quite similar to Group B. HAGL has won tickets from the previous 2 matches and the match against Khanh Hoa is just a formality. HAGL of course wants to win against Khanh Hoa to have a winning streak of 8 matches in the qualifying round.
As for Khanh Hoa, if they win against HAGL, they will definitely be one of the 4 second-place teams to win tickets. Even a draw is not bad because if the qualifying round ends with 17 points and a difference of +12, Khanh Hoa still has high hopes of being one of the four second-place teams to win tickets. However, earning points against HAGL was not easy and in the first leg, Khanh Hoa lost 1-2.
In Group E, Phu Yen holds the top spot with 15 points after 7 matches. The only team that can compete for Phu Yen’s leading position is host Binh Phuoc with 14 points after 7 matches.
This round, if Phu Yen wins against Lam Dong, the coastal team will for the first time win the right to attend the finals of the national U.19 tournament. Phu Yen has hope of achieving this miracle because they won the first leg 4-0 against Lam Dong and Lam Dong has now run out of motivation.
Meanwhile, Binh Phuoc can only win the top spot if they win against Tay Ninh, and at the same time wait for Phu Yen to lose points to Lam Dong. However, if Binh Phuoc wins against Tay Ninh, even though they are second in the group, they still have many opportunities to be the owners of the final ticket for the 4 best runner-up teams in the group. To strengthen their hopes of getting a ticket, Binh Phuoc needed to win against Tay Ninh as strongly as possible and in the first leg, they beat Tay Ninh 4-0.
In Group F, Binh Duong still leads with 15 points and holds the right to self-determination in the final round. The ticket will be Binh Duong’s if they win against host Ba Ria Vung Tau, the team was eliminated after being held to a draw by Long An in the previous round. In the first leg, Binh Duong won 1-0, but the return leg may be easier for the Thu team when Ba Ria Vung Tau runs out of motivation.
Ho Chi Minh City is ranked second with 13 points. Ho Chi Minh City will only win first place if it wins against Long An and waits for Binh Duong to lose points to Ba Ria Vung Tau. Because Long An was eliminated after drawing with Ba Ria Vung Tau, the chance for Ho Chi Minh City to win is very bright. But even if they win, Ho Chi Minh City’s chances of getting a ticket are very dim.
In Group G, Dong Thap leads the group with 14 points after 7 matches and holds the right to self-determination in the final round. As long as they have a point against the bottom team Vinh Long, Dong Thap will officially win the ticket.
Meanwhile, the chances of host Tien Giang are very small. Tien Giang can only win the top spot over Dong Thap if Tien Giang wins Can Tho and Dong Thap loses to Vinh Long. In case Tien Giang or Dong Thap are second in the group with the maximum 14 points, they will not be able to compete for tickets with the teams in other groups.
