The under-19 players of the Hoang Anh Gia Lai – Arsenal JMG Football Academy yesterday won the championship after beating the Thai U-21 team 3-0 at the international U-21 Championship, or Thanh Nien Newspaper Cup.

It was the first title for the young players, after advancing to the final games of four international events, including the Southeast Asia U-19 Championship 2013 in Indonesia, the under-22 Hassanal Bolkiah Cup 2014 in Brunei, the under-19 Nutifood Cup 2014 in Hanoi, and the tournament yesterday.

In the previous tournaments, Vietnam sent its national U-19 team with most of the players coming from the Hoang Anh Gia Lai – Arsenal JMG football academy.

At Can Tho Stadium yesterday, defender Van Son opened the scoring for his home side with a penalty shot in the 16th minute.

The shot was set up by striker Cong Phuong, who dribbled the ball past three Thai players before being tackled in the box.

The second goal came in the 76th minute after Phuong dribbled past several players and curved a shot to double the advantage to 2-0.

He fixed the 3-0 win for HAGL in the last minute to thunderous applause from fans at the stadium.

The U-19 HAGL won the gold cup and a cash prize of US$12,000 for the victory.

In the other match, the Vietnamese U-21 football team beat the Malaysian U-21s 2-1 to claim the bronze medal.