Korean newspaper talks about Vietnam's chances of advancing compared to Malaysia

The Vietnamese team has just gone through two hard-fought victories against Nepal to continue chasing Malaysia in Group F of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. We have 9 points after 4 matches, 3 points less than Malaysia.

Korean newspaper talks about Vietnam's chances of advancing compared to Malaysia - 1

Vietnam team tries to catch up with Malaysia (Photo: Nam Anh).

Commenting on the result of the Vietnamese team, Daum newspaper wrote: “In the second leg, the Vietnamese team only won 1-0 against Nepal thanks to an own goal by Suman Shrestha. This victory helped the Vietnamese team continue to chase Malaysia on the rankings with 3 points less. Malaysia continued to assert its strength when winning 5-1 against Laos.”

However, Daum newspaper believes that the Vietnamese team's chance of participating in the Asian Cup is very high as Malaysia is at risk of losing because of falsifying documents of 7 naturalized players.

The Korean newspaper commented: “The Vietnamese team should not give up, especially when Malaysia is at high risk of losing 0-3 in the first leg against coach Kim Sang Sik and his team for using illegally naturalized players.

FIFA has accused Malaysia of falsifying documents for seven naturalized players. The players’ grandparents were born in Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil and Argentina, but their fake documents listed their birthplace as Malaysia.

If the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) decides to lose 0-3 to Malaysia, the Vietnamese team will win the top spot in the group and have a good chance of participating in the 2027 Asian Cup.

Korean newspaper talks about Vietnam's chances of advancing compared to Malaysia - 2

Daum newspaper believes that Vietnam still has a good chance of winning a ticket to the Asian Cup while Malaysia faces the risk of being disqualified (Photo: Nam Anh).

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) confirmed that it will appeal to the FIFA Appeal Committee as well as to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The AFC said it will wait for the final decision of FIFA and CAS before announcing Malaysia's punishment.

AFC set a deadline for FAM to complete legal procedures on March 31, 2026. During this time, Malaysia can still compete in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers but cannot use the 7 naturalized players who violated the rules.

That means, most likely, the AFC will only impose a penalty when Malaysia completes the 2027 Asian Cup qualifying round (including the second leg against Vietnam in March 2026). This could put pressure on coach Kim Sang Sik's team in the second leg, after losing 0-4 to Malaysia in the first leg last June.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/bao-han-quoc-noi-ve-co-hoi-di-tiep-cua-tuyen-viet-nam-so-voi-malaysia-20251015235804931.htm