U.23 Vietnam is likely not to fall into the 'death group' in Asia, why?

The U.23 Vietnam team could fall into an easy group at the 2026 AFC U.23 Championship finals, opening up an opportunity for us to create an earthquake in this tournament. However, it is also very possible that coach Kim Sang-sik and his team fall into a difficult group.

The possibility of an easy draw for U.23 Vietnam

The draw for the final round of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship will take place on October 2 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. According to the seeding results, the Vietnam U23 team is in group 2, alongside the U23 teams of South Korea, Australia and Qatar. This also means that coach Kim Sang-sik's team will avoid the aforementioned teams in the group stage.

U.23 Vietnam waits for easy group at 2026 AFC U.23 Championship

Photo: Minh Tu

The remaining seed groups include group 1 with the host team U.23 Saudi Arabia, defending champion Japan, defending runner-up Uzbekistan and Iraq. Group 3 has Thailand, Jordan, UAE and Iran. Group 4 has U.23 teams China, Syria, Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon.

With these seed groups, U.23 Vietnam can fall into a very favorable group. The best possibility for U.23 Vietnam is that we fall into a group with U.23 Iraq (theoretically the weakest team in group 1), Thailand (weakest in group 3) and Kyrgyzstan (weakest in group 4).

U.23 Vietnam conquers SEA Games 33 gold medal: Why not?

If we fall into this group, coach Kim Sang-sik's team has a very high chance of passing the group stage, because U.23 Thailand and U.23 Kyrgyzstan are not stronger than U.23 Vietnam. We can beat the teams from Southeast Asia and Central Asia, to join U.23 Iraq in the top two positions of the group, and then qualify for the quarter-finals.

"Death" group

On the contrary, in the unfortunate case, U.23 Vietnam could fall into a very difficult group with U.23 Japan (theoretically the strongest in group 1, the strongest in Asia), Iran (the strongest in group 3) and Syria (the strongest in group 4). All 3 teams mentioned above are stronger than U.23 Vietnam, but U.23 Japan and U.23 Iran are much stronger than coach Kim Sang-sik's team.

The nature of the finals will be completely different from the qualifying round.

Photo: Minh Tu

This is also the scenario that former coach of the Vietnam U.23 team, Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan, is most worried about: "If Vietnam U.23 falls into a group with a top representative of East Asian football, and a representative of a top representative of West Asian football, each match of Vietnam U.23 in the group stage will be no different from the final match, because with just one loss in a group like this, Vietnam U.23 can be eliminated right after the group stage."

Coach Hoang Anh Tuan also advised U.23 Vietnam to prepare carefully in terms of physical strength and playing style, aiming to create surprises at the continental tournament finals. Mr. Tuan warned: "The nature of the U.23 Asian Finals will be completely different from the qualifying round."

In general, the chance of U.23 Vietnam passing the group stage at the 2026 AFC U23 Championship depends largely on the draw results on October 2. If we are in the same group with U.23 Thailand and Kyrgyzstan, the journey ahead for the team under coach Kim Sang-sik will be wide open. On the contrary, if U.23 Vietnam falls into the group with U.23 Japan and Iran, our chance to continue will be very narrow. The final round of this tournament will take place in January next year.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/u23-viet-nam-rat-co-the-khong-phai-roi-vao-bang-tu-than-o-chau-a-tai-sao-185250914144354561.htm