02 Oct 2011
ASPIRE Football Dreams 1994 born team placed second in the Ho Chi Minh City International Football Tournament, also known as the Eximbank Cup, held in Vietnam this week. The tournament was a round-robin format with teams from Vietnam, South Korea, Singapore and Qatar’s ASPIRE team competing for the title.
After opening with an impressive 2-0 win against a much older Singapore Under 23 squad, the team went on to draw against Vietnam in front of a large home crowd. Twice ASPIRE trailed in the match but showed fantastic fighting spirit to equalize.
The final match for ASPIRE was played against a team from South Korea. With the match ending in a 1-1 draw, ASPIRE proudly finished the tournament in second place. The team will now play in the International Under 21 Tournament – Youth Newspaper Cup in Pleiku city, Vietnam. Five players of the squad of 23 took part in the historic Milk Cup Championships in July this year, where they defeated the a youth team from Manchester United in the final with a score of 5-1.