Actually, the victory of the Vietnamese team last night (November 16) was also a victory against the representative of football Southeast Asia coach Philippe Troussier’s team played defeated the Philippines 2-0 at Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila (Philippines).
The remaining Southeast Asian team won the first series of matches in the second qualifying round World Cup 2026 Asia took place last night in Malaysia. Coach Kim Pan Gon’s team (Korean) won 4-3 against Kyrgyzstan after being 3-1 ahead.
To be fair, Kyrgyzstan is not classified as a team strong in Asia. Therefore, Malaysia’s victory should not be overestimated.
When representatives of Southeast Asian football clashed with highly qualified Asian opponents, they all failed. Specifically, Myanmar lost 0-5 to Japan in Group B, Singapore lost 0-5 to South Korea in Group C, Indonesia lost 1-5 to Iraq in Group F, and Thailand lost 1-2 to China in Group C.
Of these, Thailand lost with the smallest difference. But in fact, China (ranked 79th in the world) is also the weakest team compared to Japan (ranked 18th in the world, highest in Asia), South Korea (ranked 24th in the world, 3rd in Asia) and Iraq (ranked 24th in the world, 3rd in Asia). ranked 68th in the world).
Set the case of Thailand clashing with South Korea instead of China (Thailand teams, Korea and China are both in Group C) It is unlikely that the Golden Temple football team will lose with such a close margin as above.
That once again reflects the strength of the teams in Southeast Asia compared to the top group in Asia, which still has a significant gap. telling.
A typical example is that the team, which has declined a lot in recent years, did not set high targets in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers: China can still win against the strongest team in Southeast Asia. Thailand (champion of the two most recent AFF Cups).
And yet, that also partly reflects that the road to the 2026 World Cup finals for Southeast Asian teams will be very difficult.
Like Thailand, Indonesia has been progressing continuously in recent times. They are so confident in their progress that they played a friendly against the defending champions world Argentina in June.
However, when entering a match in an official tournament and the opponent really plays seriously Indonesia Out of breath against the former 2007 Asian champion Iraq.
So the Vietnamese team’s victory over the Philippines in the first match did not reflect anything. The real challenge of the army in the hands of coach Philippe Troussier will only appear from the second match when the Vietnamese team takes on Iraq at My Dinh Stadium on November 21.
When will the Only by representing Southeast Asia defeating the teams in the above groups in Asia at the level of Iraq or higher, regional football can truly see the opportunity to qualify for the World Cup.
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