Indonesian newspaper fears U22 Vietnam will join hands with Malaysia to eliminate home team

(Dan Tri) - Many Indonesian newspapers have expressed concern that U22 Vietnam will proactively draw with U22 Malaysia in the final match to eliminate the home team at SEA Games 33.

In the match last night (December 8), the defending SEA Games champion U22 Indonesia unexpectedly suffered a 0-1 defeat against U22 Philippines. With this result, U22 Philippines has won the right to continue in Group C with 6 points after two matches.

Indonesian newspaper fears that U22 Vietnam will join hands with U22 Malaysia to win tickets to the next round (Photo: Anh Khoa).

U22 Vietnam benefited from this result as we only needed a draw with U22 Malaysia in the last match to qualify for the semi-finals. At that time, both teams had 4 points, while the second-placed teams in groups A and C only had a maximum of 3 points.

According to the organizing committee's regulations, the top three teams of the three groups and the best second-place team will qualify for the semi-finals.

Faced with that reality, Indonesian press is concerned that U22 Vietnam and U22 Malaysia will intentionally draw to eliminate their team from SEA Games 33.

CNN Indonesia headlined: “U22 Indonesia fails. U22 Vietnam and U22 Malaysia can join hands to win tickets to the next round”. The author emphasized: “U22 Indonesia’s defeat against U22 Philippines makes coach Indra Sjafri’s team have little hope of going further.

U22 Vietnam and U22 Malaysia can take advantage of this to create a match that “no one wants to win”. Although they won the championship at the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia, U22 Indonesia now no longer has the right to decide for themselves.

Both U22 Vietnam and U22 Malaysia have 3 points. They both need a draw to advance. Therefore, the two teams can easily take advantage of this situation to aim for a safe draw.

U22 Indonesia is at risk of being eliminated after losing to U22 Philippines (Photo: PSSI).

Similarly, Tribun News expressed concern: “There is a high possibility that the match between U22 Vietnam and U22 Malaysia will end in a draw. With this scenario, both teams will enter the semi-finals together. The chance of U22 Indonesia is very small.”

The match between U22 Vietnam and U22 Malaysia will take place at 4:00 p.m. on December 11. This is the first match in the third round of the group stage of SEA Games 33. If this match ends in a draw, the match between U22 Indonesia and U22 Myanmar will no longer have much meaning.

Ranking of second-placed teams at SEA Games 33 (Photo: Wiki).

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/bao-indonesia-lo-ngai-u22-viet-nam-bat-tay-malaysia-de-loai-doi-nha-20251209185205109.htm