Southeast Asian women's teams find it difficult to qualify for the 2024 Olympics

In the second qualifying round of the women's football event for the 2024 Paris Olympics in Asia, the Vietnamese women's team is in Group C with Japan, Uzbekistan and India.

After losing 0-1 to Uzbekistan last night (October 26), coach Mai Duc Chung's team has almost no chance of qualifying.

The Vietnamese women's team lost to Uzbekistan last night (Photo: UFA).

According to the regulations of the Olympic women's football qualifying round, the top team of each group (there are a total of 3 groups in the second qualifying round), along with the second-placed team with the best record, will advance to the third qualifying round.

After losing to Uzbekistan, the Vietnamese women's team will find it difficult to win second place in the group, while the top spot in Group C of the second qualifying round will almost certainly belong to Japan (former world champions).

Two other representatives of Southeast Asian women's football present in the second qualifying round include the Philippines (Group A) and Thailand (Group B).

Thailand fell into a very difficult group B, with the presence of China, North Korea and South Korea (Photo: Daily News).

Thailand was placed in a very difficult group, including China, North Korea and South Korea. In the opening match yesterday afternoon, Thailand lost to South Korea 1-10. In theory, South Korea is weaker than North Korea and China, so the Thai women's team has almost no hope in the remaining matches.

As for the Philippines, they are in the same group with Australia, Iran and Chinese Taipei. In this group, Australia is the strongest and likely to take the top spot. The Philippines can aim for the second place in Group A.

But even then, it will still be difficult for the Philippines to compete for a wild card, because they still have to compete on points with the second-placed teams in groups B and C, which could be North Korea, South Korea, China (in group B) and Uzbekistan (in group C).

Even if the Philippines gets a wildcard ticket to the third qualifying round, they will still have a hard time getting past this stage. In the third qualifying round, there will be only 4 teams left. These 4 teams will be divided into two pairs of knockout matches. At that time, the Philippines' opponents could be Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Australia or China.

There is no chance for the Philippines if it faces one of the five representatives of the above-mentioned Asian women's football powers (Asia only has a total of two slots to participate in the women's football event at the 2024 Paris Olympics).

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/cac-doi-tuyen-nu-dong-nam-a-kho-vuot-qua-vong-loai-olympic-2024-20231027124828886.htm