Vietnam U23 team boast Asia’s second-best attack

The Vietnamese players opened their campaign with a 2-0 victory over Jordan.

They followed that up with a 2-1 win against Kyrgyzstan and a hard-fought 1-0 triumph over Saudi Arabia to advance with momentum.

In the quarter-finals, they edged past the United Arab Emirates 3-2 after a dramatic 120-minute battle.

Their run was halted in the semi-finals by China, where they suffered a 0-3 defeat and were forced into the third-place match.

Vietnam drew 2-2 with South Korea in the third-place match before holding their nerve to prevail in the penalty shoot-out.

Striker Dinh Bac emerged as the standout performer, contributing four goals and finishing the tournament as the top goalscorer.

Other players Khuat Van Khang, Quoc Viet, Minh Phuc, Hieu Minh and Le Phat each found the net once.

Vietnam’s remaining goal came from an own goal by Kyrgyzstan defender Khristiyan Brauzman.

With 10 goals, Vietnam U23s ended the tournament as the second-highest scoring team, after Japan U23s, who led the charts with 16 goals.

The Vietnamese team’s tally surpassed several Asian powerhouses, including South Korea (eight goals), and Australia, Jordan and the UAE (five goals each).

Notably, runners-up China managed just four goals, six fewer than Vietnam across the tournament.

Among Southeast Asian representatives, Thailand U23s exited the competition with only two goals scored.

The 10-goal haul also marks the highest tally Vietnam U23s have ever recorded in the history of their participation at the AFC U23 Asian Cup.

In six previous appearances, their highest tally had been eight goals, achieved in 2018 under coach Park Hang-seo, a year in which Vietnam memorably advanced to the final.