Scenario for Southeast Asian teams to enter the U23 Asian finals

According to the regulations of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers, the group winners and the four best second-placed teams (11 groups in total) will qualify for the continental finals taking place in January next year in Saudi Arabia.

In Group C, U23 Vietnam (currently with 6 points) only needs to score against U23 Yemen (6 points) in the final match on September 9 to top the group and qualify for the final round. In case of losing to U23 Yemen, coach Kim Sang Sik's team will look for opportunities to win for the 4 best second-placed teams.

Kịch bản để các đội bóng Đông Nam Á vào vòng chung kết U23 châu Á - 1 — U23 Thailand can win the top spot in Group F (Photo: FAT).

The same situation also happened to the U23 Thailand team (currently with 4 points) in Group F. If the Golden Temple team defeats U23 Malaysia (3 points) in the final match on September 9, U23 Thailand can top the group, thereby officially winning a ticket to the final round.

In case U23 Thailand draws with U23 Malaysia (3 points), they are likely to finish second in Group F, and will aim for a ticket to the finals by way of a wildcard, reserved for one of the four second-placed teams with the best results.

Also in Group F, U23 Malaysia theoretically still has a chance to qualify for the finals, but in reality the chances of the young Malaysian team are quite small.

If U23 Malaysia defeats U23 Thailand on September 9, Malaysia can only hope for second place in Group F and a wild card. Because, in another match in this group, U23 Lebanon will easily beat Mongolia, thereby Lebanon will have more points than U23 Malaysia.

Kịch bản để các đội bóng Đông Nam Á vào vòng chung kết U23 châu Á - 2 — U23 Indonesia (red shirt) must beat U23 Korea to secure a ticket to the finals (Photo: CNN Indonesia).

In Group G, U23 Cambodia (4 points) can theoretically still take the top spot against U23 Iraq (6 points), if the team from the land of pagodas wins against Iraq on September 9. However, this possibility is very low.

In case U23 Cambodia loses to Iraq, they could lose the second place in the group to Oman (1 point), if U23 Oman wins against Pakistan in the match taking place on the same day.

In Group J, U23 Indonesia (currently with 4 points) must beat U23 Korea (6 points) in the final round to be able to top the group and officially get a ticket to the finals. In case Indonesia draws or loses to Korea, the young team from the archipelago country can only hope for second place in the group.

In particular, in case U23 Indonesia loses to Korea, the opportunity to win second place in Group J may fall into the hands of U23 Laos (1 point), if Laos wins big against the weak team Macau (China) in another match of this group.

In Group K, U23 Philippines (3 points) can only hope for second place. It is not difficult for the Philippines to win big against Nepal on September 9. But even if U23 Philippines wins against U23 Nepal, the group leader Syria (6 points) can still maintain their top position, in case they draw or win against U23 Tajikistan.

With U23 Myanmar (1 point) in group B, Singapore (0 points) in group C, Timor Leste (0 points) in group D, Brunei (0 points) in group H, these teams have almost no chance of going further, or have been eliminated.

The Southeast Asian teams with the highest chance of reaching the finals, in order, will be Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos and Cambodia.