On January 8 and 9, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia played friendly matches against Syria, Kyrgyzstan and Iran. As a result, only Malaysia won points after drawing 2-2 with Syria. Meanwhile, Vietnam lost 1-2 to Kyrgyzstan and Indonesia lost 0-5 to Iran.
Previously, Indonesia lost to Libya 0-4 and 1-2 on January 2 and 5, respectively, while Thailand lost to Japan 0-5 on January 1. In total, the four Southeast Asian teams, including Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, played six international friendly matches before the Asian Cup, losing five and drawing only one.
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Malaysia (yellow shirt) got a draw
The next notable thing is that when facing high-level opponents such as Japan and Iran, Southeast Asian teams all lost heavily (Thailand lost to Japan 0-5, Indonesia lost to Iran 0-5). This reflects that the gap in skill level between Southeast Asia and the top group in Asia is still very large.
Even when facing not-so-strong opponents, Southeast Asian teams still lost, even lost heavily: Indonesia lost to Libya 0-4 and 1-2, while the Vietnamese team lost to Kyrgyzstan 1-2.
Although these friendly matches are only meant to "warm up" before the teams enter the Asian championship, most teams do not focus on results, nor do they choose their peak performance for the friendly matches. However, the fact that Southeast Asian teams have lost in succession also partly reflects the general strength of football in the region. These consecutive losses are not a random result or just an unfortunate event.
From there, it can be seen that the prospects of Southeast Asian teams at the 2023 Asian Cup are not too bright.
When discussing the ability of Southeast Asian teams to pass the group stage at this year's Asian Cup, people often have to consider who the Southeast Asian teams are facing? What is the schedule of the teams? At the same time, we have to look forward to the element of luck.
There are too many factors that have to come together for Southeast Asian teams to hope to get past the group stage. Only weak teams need so many factors to get past the group stage of an international tournament.
The group stage is just the minimum goal of every team when competing in any tournament (not expecting to be eliminated before playing), but it has made Southeast Asian teams struggle like that. Therefore, the hope of becoming a dark horse in the 2023 Asian Cup for teams in the region is not high.
Thailand did not start well.
The last time a Southeast Asian representative reached the semi-finals of an Asian Cup was in 1972. At that time, there were two Southeast Asian teams that made it to this stage, including Thailand and the Khmer Republic team (now the Cambodian team).
In the most recent Asian Cup in 2019, there were two Southeast Asian teams that made it through the group stage: Thailand and Vietnam. Vietnam reached the quarterfinals of the 2019 Asian Cup. However, both teams are now weaker than they were more than 4 years ago.
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