South Korea's under-17 national football team defeated Vietnam to move into first place in its group.
The squad, led by head coach Kim Hyun-jun, beat Vietnam 4-1 in the second match of Group C in the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-17 Asian Cup, held at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Monday local time.
After drawing 1-1 with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their opening match, Korea improved to one win and one draw (four points), overtaking Vietnam (three points, one win and one loss) to take the top spot in the group.
Korea conceded the opening goal in the 32nd minute of the first half but showed remarkable focus in the second half, scoring four unanswered goals to complete the 4-1 comeback victory. An Seon-hyun (Pohang Steelers U-18) opened the scoring for Korea with an equalizer in the 39th minute of the second half, followed by Nam I-an's (Ulsan HD U-18) go-ahead goal in the 41st minute, An Ju-wan's (Seoul E-Land) insurance goal in the 43rd minute, and Kim Ji-woo's (Busan IPark U-18) clinching goal in second-half stoppage time.
The tournament features 16 teams divided into four groups of four for the group stage, with the top two teams from each group — eight in total — advancing to the knockout rounds to compete for the title.
The top eight teams will earn berths to the FIFA U-17 World Cup, to be held in Qatar in November.
Korea has won the U-17 Asian Cup twice (1986 and 2002) and finished as runner-up three times (2008, 2014, and 2023).
The team reached the semifinals at the most recent edition, the 2025 tournament in Saudi Arabia.
Korea will play Yemen in its final group-stage match on Friday.
