AFF Under-19 Championship

A final re-cap on the 2011 tournament:

Final:

Thailand 1:1 Vietnam (Thailand win 5:4 on pens)

3/4

Myanmar 0:0 Malaysia (Malaysia win 4:2 on pens)

Thailand now have 2 championships to their name.

Myanmar proved to be good hosts and the AFF organisation was very good. They realised early that they needed to change the schedule due to the weather conditions and it worked. It showed that the AFF can be flexible ans showed that Myanmar can step up to the next level.

So, what did we learn from this tournament?

Brunei totally out of their depth, the noise before the tournament was that they had been waiting for this after their suspension for a long time, I'm sure they will be wondering how they conceded 30 goals and where this team goes from here.

Indonesia showed us once again, that for all the hope, they always fail to deliver, why can't they get it right?

But in Group A, what interested me was that although Singapore are bigger hitters at senior level, they can struggle at youth level, not a surprise for such a small state, but we could see changes at senior level in the future, espeically with the emergence of the Philippines.

A succesful tournament I would say, that shows that youth football can be run well and was played at the right time so that the regions teams can prepare for the AFC qualifiers.

 

Iran take Thailand's place in the 2012 edition.

Teams:

Vietnam (Host)
Australia
Uzbekistan
Iran

Tournament takes place from September 2 to 8

http://www.the-afc.com/en/tournamen...ship/39740-iran-replace-thailand-in-aff-event

 

HO CHI MINH CITY (1 Sept 2012) – The searing afternoon heat and the evening downpour will be the unpredictable factor in the AFF Under-19 Preparatory Tournament which will begin tomorrow at the Thong Nhat Stadium.
Four teams will clash in this preparatory tournament which is being used as a testing ground for the AFC U19 Championship later this year.
But the weather here in Ho Chi Minh City has been very unpredictable of late where the sun and the rain seems to be taking random turns in taking a swipe on this city of close to 10 million.
“The big factor is the heat and the other teams will realized just how bad it can be when we start the tournament tomorrow,” said Simon Roberts, the team manager of Australia.
“It will be a great tournament for us and a great opportunity for us to look at the other teams. We just came from Hong Kong (where we beat the Hong Kong U21 team 3-0), so we are in good shape for this meet.”
While Australia are concerned about the weather Uzbekistan – whom they will play against in the opener tomorrow – are cagier about their programmes.
“It is all part of the plan,” said Evstafeev Aleksey, the chief coach of Uzbekistan. “This tournament is a very important preparation for the AFC where we would like to see the level of the other teams.”

In the meantime Vietnam team manager Truong Hai Tung, said that said since they are in the same group with Uzbekistan for the AFC U19 Championship, it was important for them to assess their opponents.
Where from here, they will know exactly what needs to be done for them to be competitive in November.
“We spent some ten days in Gia Lai and played three games against the Vietnam U21 squad – we won once, drew once and lost once,” added Hai Tung.
“This meet will is good where we will play against good teams although for us, we need to know where we stand against Uzbekistan which is more important.”
Akbar Mohammadi, the chief coach of Iran, will be hoping that the tournament here will give his team some valuable insights to their preparation for the main event.
“Before coming here, we played against Uzbekistan twice (a 3-1 win and a 2-1 loss) in a friendly, so it will be interesting to see in a competitive atmosphere,” added Akbar.
“We are here with our complete line-up of players, so we are looking forward to our first game.”

http://www.aseanfootball.org/?p=9457

 

Australia 1:2 Uzbekistan

http://www.aseanfootball.org/?p=9472

 

Vietnam 1:2 Iran

 

Vietnam 0:4 Uzbekistan
Australia 1:4 Iran

http://www.aseanfootball.org/?p=9531

Iran to meet Uzbekistan in the final

 

Final:

Iran 2:1 Uzbekistan

3/4 place:

Australia 4:0 Vietnam

 

Amazingly, the calendar for 2013 has been produced and the 2013 edition of the AFF U19 Championship will be held in........Timor Leste!! 21-28 September.

http://www.aseanfootball.org/v2/?page_id=6913

 

For the AFF U19 meet, the Philippines are in Group A against Laos, Australia, Timor Leste, Singapore and Cambodia.
Group B are Brunei, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Myanmar.

http://www.aseanfootball.org/v2/?p=12559

 

And now looks like being played in Indonesia and Thailand have now entered.

 

Group Stage results of the 2013 edition.
Australia withdrew jsut days before the start citing lack of preperation time.

Group A
17.09.2013
Philippines U19 1-2 East Timor U19
Cambodia U19 3-2 Singapore U19
15.09.2013
Cambodia U19 4-1 Philippines U19
Laos U19 1-3 East Timor U19
13.09.2013
Laos U19 3-0 Singapore U19
East Timor U19 3-1 Cambodia U19
11.09.2013
Cambodia U19 2-3 Laos U19
Singapore U19 3-1 Philippines U19
09.09.2013
East Timor U19 1-1 Singapore U19
Laos U19 3-1 Philippines U19

Group B
18.09.2013
Indonesia U19 1-1 Malaysia U19
Brunei U19 1-6 Vietnam U19
Myanmar U19 4-4 Thailand U19
16.09.2013
Indonesia U19 3-1 Thailand U19
Brunei U19 0-5 Malaysia U19
Vietnam U19 3-1 Myanmar U19
14.09.2013
Indonesia U19 1-2 Vietnam U19
Malaysia U19 2-1 Thailand U19
Myanmar U19 6-0 Brunei U19
12.09.2013
Indonesia U19 2-1 Myanmar U19
Thailand U19 8-0 Brunei U19
Vietnam U19 1-0 Malaysia U19

 

So, it would appear that the big guns were cramped into Group B of which Vietnam and Indonesia survived. Vietnam with an impressive unbeaten record.

In Group A, the little hitters Laos and Timor-Leste have made the next stage and Cambodia came an impressive 3rd.

Semi Finals take place tomorrow, Vietnam - Laos, Indonesia - Timor-Leste

 

It's looking promising for Vietnam.

As for Thailand, some rumours say they sent a 2nd string because of an Under 19 tournament at home so it's not the real Thai squad.... but I find this as face saving really. They still they think run the region, but they've been caught up in recent years and need to get to terms with that. Saying they send 2nd stringers and hiding behind the real facts wont help them

 

2014 edition is going back to Vietnam.

Australia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and hosts Vietnam have so far entered along with guests Japan expected to play.

Where is everybody else? Hello Cambodia? Hello Timor? Not even an Malaysia?

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/sports/96853/vietnam-to-host-aff-u19-youth-championship.html

 

Group A: Vietnam, Australia, Japan
Group B: Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/sports/104179/u19-vietnam-to-play-six-friendlies-in-japan.html

 

Here we go, starts tomorrow:

PREVIOUS WINNERS
2002: Thailand
2005: Myanmar
2006: Australia
2007: Vietnam
2008: Australia
2009: Thailand
2010: Australia
2011: Thailand
2012: Iran
2013: Indonesia

 

It's weird how it's a preparation tournament that most try to avoid!

 

Opening day results:

Indonesia 2:6 Thailand
Vietnam 1:0 Australia