Vietnam’s U23 squad suffered a 1-2 defeat to K-League club Chunnam Dragons in a friendly match at My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi on Tuesday.

Midfielder Thanh Hung’s powerful shot from outside the visitors’ penalty area put the home team in front two minutes after the interval.

However, Chunnam Dragons, who are in fifth place in South Korea’s top-tier league, scored an equalizer just two minutes later due thanks to weak Vietnamese defense. Youn Sung’s pass found an unmarked Yoo Hong Youl who fired an unstoppable shot.

Vietnam’s U23 team coach Henrique Calisto had replaced some of his best players with substitutes in order to give them an opportunity in the unimportant friendly.

But his defense was too weak and the home team conceded a second goal five minutes from full time.

Speaking after the match, Calisto said, “The Vietnamese U23 players were not bad. We scored a goal against a stronger team.”

Calisto said the Vietnamese U23s still had a lot of work to do but he said they would fare well at the 25^th South East Asian Games in Laos this December.

Chunnam Dragons coach Hang Seo said, “Vietnam’s U23s played well in the match.”

Heo also said his players were not in their best form because they had had two very hard-fought matches in the K-League before flying to Vietnam for the friendly.

Reported by Lan Phuong