Malaysia squeezed through a narrow gap to become the fourth Southeast Asian representative to be present at the 2024 AFC U23 Championship finals in Qatar.
Malaysia finished bottom of the four best runners-up. Due to the three-team group, the rankings are based on the results between the top three teams in each group.
Kuwait, Tajikistan and China have four points each. Malaysia lost 0-1 to Thailand in the final qualifying match yesterday, September 12, so they have three points, with the same goal difference of +3 as Iran. The team got through the narrow door because it had a better fair-play score than its opponent, having received only four yellow cards compared to Iran's nine.
Malaysia (yellow shirt) lost to Thailand (blue shirt) 0-1 in the final match of Group H of the 2024 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers. Photo: FAT
This result helps Southeast Asia have four representatives in the AFC U23 finals for the first time , including Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Vietnam and Thailand have each participated in the finals five times in 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024. Malaysia has three appearances in 2018, 2022 and 2024, while Indonesia qualified for the first time.
The 2024 AFC U-23 Championship will be held in Qatar from April 15 to May 3 in four cities. Players must be born on or after January 1, 2001. The champions, runners-up and third-placed teams will qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics, while the fourth-placed team will face a play-off against African representative Guinea.
Nguyen Huu Nam (No. 19) celebrates the goal that increased the score to 2-1 in the match between Vietnam and Singapore in the 2024 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers on September 12 at Viet Tri Stadium, Phu Tho . Photo: Lam Thoa
The seeding for the finals will be based on 2022 results. Pot one includes hosts Qatar, defending champions Saudi Arabia, runners-up Uzbekistan and third-placed Japan. Vietnam, thanks to their quarter-final appearances in 2022, are in pot two with Australia, South Korea and Iraq, avoiding three strong opponents. Pot three includes Thailand, Jordan, the UAE and Kuwait. Pot four includes Malaysia, Tajikistan, Indonesia and China.
Coach Philippe Troussier will take charge of the U23 team in Qatar and aim to qualify for the Olympics. Vietnam’s best result in this tournament was runner-up in 2018, under coach Park Hang-seo. When the team reached the quarter-finals in 2022, the head coach was another Korean, Gong Oh-kyun.
The AFC U23 Championship was first held in 2013, and is also the Asian qualifying round for the men's Olympic football tournament. After five editions, the tournament has had five champions, namely Iraq, Japan, Uzbekistan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.
Hieu Luong
Source link
![[Infographic] In 2025, 47 products will achieve national OCOP](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/402x226/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/7/16/5d672398b0744db3ab920e05db8e5b7d)
Comment (0)