Southeast Asia only has Vietnam with all wins in the U23 Asian qualifiers

TPO - Last night and early this morning, the second round of matches in the U23 Asian qualifiers brought about contrasting results for the Southeast Asian representatives. Vietnam became the only representative of the region to maintain a winning streak.

The disappointing results in the first round significantly affected the chances of Malaysia and Indonesia to advance (losing to Lebanon and drawing with Laos respectively). Going into the second round, having only met Mongolia and Macau China, the weakest teams in Asia, Malaysia and Indonesia easily won. The Tigers scored 7 goals against Mongolia while Indonesia crushed Macau China 5-0.

These two results do not help both Malaysia and Indonesia to be optimistic because in the final round, they will enter the competition with stronger opponents. Malaysia must beat Thailand to have any hope while Indonesia almost only has a chance to beat Korea.

Meanwhile, the two teams that won in the opening match were Thailand and Vietnam, while only Vietnam maintained their winning streak. At home, Thailand was expected to beat Lebanon. But in the wet and slippery field, they had some scary minutes. In the 85th minute, Thailand let their opponent head the ball into the net from close range. Fortunately, 3 minutes later, they received a gift from the Lebanese goalkeeper. The match score was 2-2.

Thailand almost lost to Lebanon

If they do not win against Malaysia in the final match, Thailand will drop to 2nd place because Lebanon is almost certain to win against Mongolia. At that time, Thailand will face many disadvantages and may be eliminated.

Other Southeast Asian representatives including Brunei, Timor Leste, Singapore have been eliminated after 2 consecutive losses. Meanwhile, Myanmar, Laos are almost out of hope with only 1 point after 2 matches while Cambodia surprisingly rose to 2nd place with 4 points. Philippines also opened up the opportunity to continue with a surprising 1-0 victory over Tajikistan. In the last match, they only have to face Nepal so the possibility of this team getting 6 points in the qualifying round is very bright.

At this point, Vietnam has the widest door. The team only needs a draw in the last match to secure a ticket to the final round. Meanwhile, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia almost certainly have to win to have any hope…

RESULTS OF MATCHES OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN REPRESENTATIVES

Vietnam 1-0 Singapore

Thailand 2-2 Lebanon

Indonesia 5-0 Macau China

Malaysia 7-0 Mongolia

Myanmar 1-2 Japan

Laos 0-5 South Korea

Timor Leste 0-6 Australia

Brunei 0-2 Turkmenistan

Philippines 1-0 Tajikistan

Cambodia 1-0 Pakistan

Source: https://tienphong.vn/dong-nam-a-chi-con-viet-nam-toan-thang-o-vong-loai-u23-chau-a-post1776071.tpo