Champions S.Korea eliminated after Vietnam-China draw at Asian U-19 tourney

Japan have booked the other last-eight spot of Group C after defeating South Korea 2-1 the same day.

The Vietnamese earned one point following three matches, the Japanese six points, the Chinese five points, and the Koreans four points.

The Japanese and Chinese will play their rivals from Group D in the quarterfinals on October 17.

None of the teams in Group D, including Iraq, North Korea, Qatar, and Oman, have secured a place in the last-eight round.

The Iraqis and Qataris are now in the first and second positions, respectively, with four points whereas the Koreans place third with one point, followed by Oman who have also collected one point.

In their final group stage games, Iraq will play North Korea on Tuesday and Qatar will take on Oman the same day.

The Vietnamese were considered the underdogs in the game with China who had beaten favorites Japan in their opening encounter at this championship for under-19 players.

But Vietnam rose up to take a 1-0 lead with an opening goal of striker Hoang Thanh Tung in the 19th minute.

Launching an attack from the left wing of Vietnam’s field, a Vietnamese player sent the ball to find striker Phan Van Long in the midfield area with coordination from some Vietnamese midfielders.

Long slotted the ball to Tung who was speeding up to face Chinese keeper Zhou Yuchen before Tung slightly kicked it to open the scoring.

Eight minutes later, midfielder Van Toan received a long pass and confronted the Chinese keeper. However, his shot hit the goal post.

China replied in the last minute of the first half when defender Cheng Jin made a long range shot, driving the ball to hit the Vietnamese woodwork.

In the second half, Vietnam displayed a better performance in terms of ball possession and created many chances but could not convert any of them.

In the last minutes of the game, China shored up their formation in the hope of finding a goal to level the game and they were successful after an attack in the 87th minute.

The assault was set up on the left side and the ball was passed to the front of the Vietnamese box. Tang Shi managed to handle the ball and scored the leveling goal for China.

Both teams failed to net any more goal until the final whistle.

Vietnam lost 0-6 to reigning champions South Korea in their opener on Thursday before being defeated 1-3 by Japan in the next game two days later.

In the meantime, China beat Japan 2-1 in their first group stage match on October 9 and then held South Korea to a 0-0 draw on October 11.

The young Chinese thus earned five points after three games while Japan racked up six points and the Koreans four points.

South Korea were the defending champions at this competition. They beat Iraq 4-1 in a penalty shootout after drawing with them 1-1 in 120 minutes in the finale of the 2012 championship in the United Arab Emirates.

The 2014 footy competition opened on October 9 and will close on October 23.