U23 Vietnam set new nine-streak goalless record

By Xuan Binh May 14, 2022 | 03:29 am PT

Vietnam's Do Hung Dung (number 16) in a SEA Games match with Myanmar at Viet Tri Stadium, northern Phu Tho Province, on May 13, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Lam Thoa

Vietnam has surpassed Thailand to set a new nine streak goalless record in Southeast Asia after defeating Myanmar 1-0 Friday in the ongoing SEA Games 31.

Prior to this year's SEA Games, the U23 squad retained six clean sheets at regional tournaments.

Vietnam defeated both Taiwan and Myanmar with the same score of 1-0 in the U23 Asian Cup qualifiers late last year in Kyrgyzstan. After two victories, Vietnam topped group I and qualified for the next rounds that will be hosted by Uzbekistan between June 1 and 19.

Under coach Dinh The Nam's guidance, the team kept four more clean sheets at AFF U23 Youth Championship in Cambodia in February this year. The team defeated Singapore 7-0 and Thailand 1-0 in the group stage, then drew against Timor Leste 0-0 in the semi-finals before winning on penalties. Vietnam later defeated Thailand 1-0 in the final to win the tournament for the first time.

Coach Park Hang-seo's army extended the circuit to nine games by defeating Indonesia 3-0, drawing 0-0 with the Philippines, and defeating Myanmar 1-0 in the first three SEA Games 31 group stage matches.

Vietnam also scored 15 goals in these nine matches.

The victory against Myanmar Friday helped Vietnam set a new regional record by becoming the first team to retain nine clean sheets in a row at the U23 level in official tournaments.

Thailand held the previous record with an eight-game streak from 2013 to 2014.

Thailand's series of matches began with a 0-0 draw against Cambodia in the group stage of 2013 SEA Games in Myanmar and ended with a 2-0 victory over Jordan in the 2014 Asian Cup quarterfinals. Thailand scored 17 goals during this time period.

Thailand's streak of clean sheets ended in the 2014 Asian Games semi-finals, when they were defeated 0-2 by host nation South Korea.

North Korea is the team that scored against U23 Vietnam most recently, beating Vietnam 2-1 in the group stage of 2020 AFC U23 Championship in Bangkok, Thailand.

Park Hang-seo became the head coach of the Vietnamese U23 squad in October 2017, and the team has played 35 official matches while conceding only 19 goals. They have only conceded 10 goals in the last 29 games.