Rasoul Kar (L) Iranian skipper celebrates with a teammate after Iran beat Thailand in the International U.21 Thanh Nien Cup final. Rasoul also won the best player title.

Nine days of football excitement ended Sunday as Iran deservedly took home the 2nd International U.21 Football Tournament Thanh Nien Cup 2008.

Before the closing ceremony, famous singers like Ho Quynh Huong, Kasim Hoang Vu and Phuong Vy warmed up the stadium with stirring performances.

The people of Hue city have been enjoying themselves for almost 10 days reveling in the festive atmosphere generated by the football competition - the biggest international sporting event that the central province has hosted so far.

Every morning, many people have gathered at cafes to have a drink and discuss football, and the merits and demerits of favorites in Vietnam’s U.21 team. Duc Thien, Trong Phu, Van Khai, Thanh Hung and Duc Tai were hot topics for the week.

Also discussed was the good quality of the competition with the participation of Iran’s U21 team and Thailand’s confident and strategic performance.

In the evenings, with the matches going on, Tu Do Stadium bristled with excitement as 15,000 fans cheered the players on.

Duc Thien (L), who shared the top scorer award and received the fair play award for his team, with Vietnam’s U.21 team coach Quoc Tan

Many people told Thanh Nien that Hue hadn’t had such excitement for years.

Addressing the closing ceremony, Nguyen Cong Khe, organizing committee chairman and vice president of the Vietnam Youth Federation, thanked the people and authorities of the central province for cooperating with the organizers to make it a very successful competition.

Khe stressed: “The competition was successful because its main goal was to create opportunities for Vietnamese and international young players to play and learn from each other and improve themselves in terms of skills and strategies before participating in regional and international tournaments.”

“It was especially good and essential for Vietnam’s U.21 footballers to play against mighty opponents so they can improve Vietnamese football as soon as possible.”

Thua Thien-Hue Province People’s Committee Vice Chairman Ngo Hoa said: “The 2nd International U.21 Football Tournament Thanh Nien Cup 2008 was a brilliant success, leaving a good impression on players, coaches, referees and fans. It was a resounding success in the eyes of international friends .”

As leader of Thailand’s U.21 team at the tournament for two consecutive years, Wisit Korworrakul said: “You (the Vietnamese organizers) gave us surprise after surprise by organizing the event professionally. Visiting teams like us have been taken good care of – with good cooking, accommodation, transportation and playing (conditions).”

The matches in the competition were of very good quality, and all the six participating teams could learn what they expected to. Thailand expects to participate in other events to be organized by Thanh Nien and the Vietnam Football Federation, Korworrakul said.

Close encounter

In the final, Iran’s young stars came from a goal behind to beat the Thai opponents 2-1 in a hard-fought battle with 10 Iranians struggling upstream, especially after defender Reza received his second yellow card and had to leave the field.

Thailand’s players started confidently and kept close to the Iranian players, making things very difficult for the young players from the Persian Gulf. The first half went scoreless.

Just five minutes into the second half, Iran received a shocking blow as Thai striker Ekkachai took a good pass from captain Suphaphorn to defeat Iran’s goalkeeper and put Thailand ahead.

Iran fought back more fiercely and had the equalizer 10 minutes later. However, things became extremely hard for Iran in the 69th minute when Reza was sent off.

It came as a surprise when Iran took the lead after striker Jalalaldin scored the second goal for Iran in the 75th minute even as their 10 players labored under the constant pressure from Thailand.

The Southeast Asian team tried even harder but their players, like Nirunrit and Jirawut, failed to capitalize on at least two clear chances.

In the fight earlier for the third place, Vietnam’s U.21 team beat Singapore 1-0 in a match that Vietnamese players dominated most of the time, but squandered most of their chances except one.

Reported by Quang Huy-Giang Lao