Southeast Asian Football: Only U.23 Vietnam has a chance to continue to the U.23 Asian Cup Finals

After two matches in the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers, Southeast Asian representatives performed relatively impressively, but only U23 Vietnam has a chance to continue.

The situation of the groups at the U.23 Asia qualifiers

According to the regional press, U.23 Vietnam is the most favorable team after 2 victories against U.23 Bangladesh (2-0) and U.23 Singapore (1-0). Temporarily leading Group C, U.23 Vietnam only needs to draw with Yemen in the final match on September 9 at home to qualify for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship. With a balanced squad and very good fighting spirit, U.23 Vietnam is capable of achieving its goal.

The chances of U.23 Indonesia (left) advancing are not very promising.

Photo: The-afc

Meanwhile, U.23 Thailand, although leading Group F with 4 points (beating Mongolia 6-0 and drawing Lebanon 2-2), could lose the top spot if Lebanon wins big against Mongolia, and Thailand cannot win big against Malaysia in the final match. Since Mongolia is very weak and has exhausted its strength after the first 2 matches, Lebanon is capable of pouring in a "rain of goals" to take the top spot. If Lebanon wins big against Mongolia to achieve its goal, Thailand can only hope to continue as one of the 4 best second-placed teams. Of course, Thailand must win against Malaysia, and if they lose, U.23 Malaysia will take the second place in the group.

The most anticipated team, U.23 Indonesia, is not in a good situation even though they just used all their strength to beat U.23 Macau 5-0. This victory is not enough to help the team with many naturalized stars improve the situation. Currently, Indonesia is temporarily second in Group J with 4 points, in the last match they will meet the strong team Korea so it will be very difficult to win. However, the Indonesian press still encourages coach Gerald Vanenburg's team, because if the naturalized players play with brilliant form, they can cause a surprise when meeting Korea on September 9.

The remaining Southeast Asian representative, U.23 Myanmar, has no chance of advancing as they are currently ranked 3rd in Group B with 1 point after 2 matches (lost to U.23 Japan 1-2 and tied U.23 Kuwait 0-0).

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bong-da-dong-nam-a-chi-co-u23-viet-nam-sang-cua-di-tiep-vck-u23-chau-a-185250907174130085.htm