What are the chances for Vietnam to participate in the 2027 Asian Cup?

TPO - After the penultimate match in Group F of the third qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup, the gap between Malaysia and Vietnam remains at 3 points. If there is no incident happening to Malaysia, Coach Kim and his team must win big against their opponents to create a comeback.

On the evening of November 19, Vietnam beat Laos 2-0. Before that, Malaysia beat Nepal 1-0. After 5 matches, Malaysia leads with 15 points and a goal difference of +14, 3 points more than Vietnam. Malaysia and Vietnam will have a big match to decide the only ticket in the group to the final round of the Asian Cup 2027.

According to the 2027 Asian Cup third qualifying round format, in case of teams having equal points, the head-to-head record will be counted as the first sub-index. After that, the next sub-index used to determine is the difference in goals scored in the head-to-head match.

Coach Kim Sang-sik and his team lost 0-4 to Malaysia in the first leg. Therefore, when returning home to welcome the "Malay Tigers", the Vietnamese team must win by more than 4 goals to decide their right to continue. This is a huge challenge for the "Golden Star Warriors" if Malaysia does not encounter any problems before the two teams meet again in March next year.

In another development, Malaysia is facing the risk of having points deducted in Group F. The reason is that the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has just been exposed by FIFA for cheating in the case of naturalizing players. When the worst case scenario happens to FAM, which continues to fail in its appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport , Malaysia may be considered by the Asian Football Confederation to deduct points for 2 matches in the third qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup.

Those were the two matches in which Malaysia won against Vietnam and Nepal, using naturalized players who were accused by FIFA of falsifying documents. In fact, two of Malaysia’s seven naturalized players, Figueiredo and Holgado, scored against Vietnam.

If Malaysia is deducted 6 points, the ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup will definitely belong to Vietnam.

Group F is the only exception in the third round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers because of the unpredictable off-field developments involving Malaysia. Looking at the remaining groups, Syria and Singapore have already qualified. The competition in groups A, B, D and F is fierce until the last round.

In Southeast Asia alone, Singapore followed Indonesia to secure a ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup finals. Thailand had to play a deadly match against Turkmenistan to secure a ticket. The Philippines also faced Tajikistan in the final match.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/co-hoi-nao-cho-tuyen-viet-nam-du-asian-cup-2027-post1797779.tpo