Losing heavily to Iran Olympic, Vietnam Olympic faces a big disadvantage

After the first two matches of the men's football event of the 19th Asian Games, the Vietnam Olympic team is temporarily ranked third in Group B. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team have 3 points after beating the Mongolian Olympic team 4-2 and losing to the Saudi Arabian Olympic team 0-4. The chance to continue is not over yet, but the Vietnam Olympic team faces a big challenge.

According to the format of the 19th Asian Games men's football, the group winners, group runners-up and the four third-placed teams with the best results will advance to the round of 16. In group B, Olympic Iran will certainly advance even if they win the group, are group runners-up or come in third.

Vietnam Olympic team faces difficulties after losing to Iran Olympic team. (Photo: Hoang Anh)

In the final match, Vietnam Olympic team will face Saudi Arabia Olympic team. This opponent drew with Iran Olympic team in the first match. The West Asian teams in Group B do not have much difference in level.

To ensure their qualification, Vietnam Olympic team must get 3 points in the final match. If they can do that, coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team will be at the top of the group (in case Iran Olympic team does not win against Mongolia Olympic team) or second in the group, pushing Saudi Arabia Olympic team to third place.

In case of a draw with Olympic Saudi Arabia, Olympic Vietnam will rank third in Group B. When comparing the achievements with other teams in the group, coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team will have their 4-2 victory over Olympic Mongolia deducted (they will definitely be at the bottom of the group in any case).

Vietnam Olympic team is given 1 point with an additional index of -4. At this time, coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team must wait for the results of the remaining groups to determine their place in the next round. Vietnam Olympic team needs to be better than at least 1 third-place team in another group.

The situation in Group D (with 3 teams) is unclear because only Japan and Qatar Olympic teams have played 1 match, Palestine Olympic teams have not played yet.

Groups E and F are disadvantageous for Olympic Vietnam with the current situation. The teams that are capable of competing for third place all have better sub-indexes than Olympic Vietnam.

In Group A, if the Myanmar Olympic team draws with India in the final round, the Indian Olympic team will have 1 point and be ranked third with a sub-index of -3, which means it is better than the current level of the Vietnamese Olympic team. Therefore, if the Vietnamese Olympic team is ranked third, they must hope that the match between Myanmar and India will have a win or loss.

If Vietnam Olympic team loses to Saudi Arabia Olympic team, coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team will have very little chance of advancing. In general, if they cannot win in the final round, Vietnam Olympic team will likely be eliminated even though in theory they still have a chance.