Vietnam was held to a draw by Singapore in the U23 Asian qualifying round

* Scored: Dinh Bac 13', Huu Nam 77' - Hong Phuc own goal 58', Vasileios 85'

Due to early winning tickets to the final round, coach Philippe Troussier boldly replaced eight positions in the starting lineup, with faces that rarely played. Compared to the 1-0 win over Yemen, Vietnam kept defender Ngoc Thang, midfielder Thai Son and Hoang Van Toan. The playing style did not change and thanks to a pressing situation, Vietnam soon opened the score.

In the 12th minute, goalkeeper Aizil Yazid subjectively controlled the ball, allowing Bui Vi Hao to get close and had to commit a foul leading to a penalty. On the 11m mark, Nguyen Dinh Bac shot into the bottom left corner to score the first goal in the qualifying round. Many opportunities continued to be created but Vietnamese strikers missed them.

In the second half, Singapore pressed forward to find an equalizer by taking advantage of throw-ins or corner kicks. In the 58th minute, captain Nur Adam took a corner kick on the right wing and substitute Nguyen Huu Nam fumbled his head, hitting Hong Phuc's back and flying into his own net.

Conceding for the first time in the qualifying round caused the Vietnamese players to attack but lacked composure. In the 77th minute, from a corner kick on the left wing, the ball bounced into the right range for Huu Nam to volley with his left foot to correct the mistake and increase the score to 2-1. But being engrossed in attacking made Vietnam absent-minded in counter-attacking and had to pay the price in the 85th minute. Farhan Zulkifli dribbled the ball at speed and passed it to Zikos Vasileios to finish in the face of goalkeeper Van Binh, sealing the draw. 2-2.

Vietnam finished the 2024 U23 Asian qualifiers by taking first place in Group C with seven points, second place was Yemen with six points after just beating Guam 5-1. Vietnam entered the final round with first place, while Guam had to wait for the results of other groups to know whether it was one of the four best runner-up teams or not.

Vietnam: Cao Van Binh, Luong Duy Cuong, Duc Anh, Ngoc Thang, Ho Van Cuong, Thai Son, Khuat Van Khang, Le Quoc Nhat Nam, Hoang Van Toan, Bui Vi Hao, Dinh Bac

Singapore: Aizil Yazid, Muhammad Yazid, Bill Mamadou, Fairuz Fazli, Nur Adam, Rizal Stewart, Farhan Zulkifli, Robson Muralithran, Zikos Vasileios, Jared Gallagher, Efa Emaviwe.