AFF honors Van Khang and Hieu Minh after U23 Vietnam's big win

(Dan Tri) - Midfielder Khuat Van Khang and center back Nguyen Hieu Minh were honored by the AFF after helping U23 Vietnam win 3-0 against U23 Laos in the opening match of the U23 Southeast Asian Championship.

Coach Kim Sang Sik's team took the lead in the 19th minute thanks to captain Khuat Van Khang in the opening match of Group B on the evening of July 19.

However, U23 Vietnam had to wait until the last minutes for a double from midfielder Hieu Minh to seal a 3-0 victory over U23 Laos for a favorable start in their journey to defend their championship title.

Center backs Hieu Minh (number 4) and Khuat Van Khang (number 11) contributed greatly to the victory of U23 Vietnam (Photo: VFF).

The great contribution to the victory of U23 Vietnam was thanks to the dynamism of midfielder Khuat Van Khang. Looking at the heat map, we can see that the captain of U23 Vietnam moved very widely, all over the field and was always ready to participate in hot spots.

In addition to scoring the first goal for U23 Vietnam in the tournament, the captain of U23 Vietnam was also an extremely outstanding player, contributing greatly to the process of developing the ball as well as creating remarkable attacks. After the match, Khuat Van Khang was awarded the most active player of the match by the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF).

"The first match is always difficult. U23 Vietnam tried very hard and won. I am happy to have scored a goal for the team and will try harder in each match to develop myself.

Each tournament is different, the participating teams are all strong. U23 Vietnam needs to try hard in each match to aim for the goal of successfully defending the championship," midfielder Khuat Van Khang said after his team's victory.

AFF honored central defender Hieu Minh as the best player of the match (Photo: AFF).

Meanwhile, center back Nguyen Hieu Minh was also honored by AFF as the best player of the match when he scored two goals for U23 Vietnam. The center back born in 2004 helped U23 Vietnam double the gap in the 71st minute thanks to a tricky header from a corner kick by Nguyen Dinh Bac.

Hieu Minh was then on hand to score Vietnam's third goal in the 84th minute in a messy situation in the penalty area thanks to a quick kick that sent the ball into the top corner of the goal.

“I am very happy, because the most important thing is that the team scores and wins. It doesn’t matter who scores. I would like to congratulate Nguyen Hieu Minh for his impressive performance and double in today’s match,” coach Kim Sang Sik praised center back Hieu Minh after the match.

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Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/aff-vinh-danh-van-khang-hieu-minh-sau-chien-thang-dam-cua-u23-viet-nam-20250720084527976.htm