2026 AFC U23 Championship Qualifiers: Will Southeast Asia cause a surprise?

U23 châu á - Ảnh 1. — U23 Indonesia must win against Korea - Photo: BOLA

In Group J, the door to the next round for U23 Indonesia is extremely narrow. After two matches, they have 4 points and will have to face a very strong opponent, U23 Korea. The only way for U23 Indonesia to get a direct ticket to the final round is to defeat Korea. A victory will help them get 7 points and take the top spot in Group J.

In case of a draw, U23 Indonesia will finish the qualifying round with 5 points. With this number of points, the chance for them to compete for one of the four best second-place spots in the group is almost gone. Therefore, Indonesia is forced to fight to find a miracle.

The situation of U23 Malaysia in Group F is not much better. With only 3 points after two matches, they must win against rival U23 Thailand. A victory against Thailand will help Malaysia have 6 points. Then, they will have to wait for the result of the remaining match, hoping U23 Lebanon cannot beat Mongolia to have a chance to rise to the top position.

Even if Lebanon wins, U23 Malaysia will still have to try to beat Thailand by a large margin to maintain their slim hope of making it into the top 4 runners-up. If they fail to beat Thailand, U23 Malaysia will be officially eliminated.

Compared to their two neighbors, U23 Thailand is in the best position. They are temporarily leading Group F with 4 points and have the right to decide for themselves. A victory over U23 Malaysia will ensure the "war elephants" top the group and a ticket straight to the final round.

However, a draw could turn into a disaster. If they draw with Malaysia, U23 Thailand will have 5 points. And if in the same match, U23 Lebanon wins against Mongolia (with 7 points), Thailand will lose the top spot. With 5 points, their chance of winning a play-off ticket is almost gone.

The final round of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers promises to be extremely dramatic, especially for Southeast Asian teams. Can they create shocks to squeeze through the narrow door?

U23 China is not sure of going further

In Group D, U23 China has the same 6 points as U23 Australia but is temporarily ranked second in the group due to a lower goal difference (+11 compared to +20). Therefore, they will have a "big battle" with their opponent in the final match.

If they want to secure a ticket to the final round, U23 China must defeat Australia to win the top spot in the group. However, this is not an easy task. That is because U23 Australia showed their superior strength when crushing the Northern Mariana Islands with a score of 14-0 and 6-0 against Timor Leste.

The most likely goal for U23 China is to hold Australia to a draw to gain an advantage when considering the results of the second-placed teams. Before the last match, they were the second-placed team with the best record. Therefore, if they lose to Australia, the door to a wild card is still quite open for U23 China. However, if they lose to Australia, U23 China will surely be disappointed. Therefore, the scenario in the last match still promises many unexpected results.

THANH DINH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/vong-loai-u23-chau-a-2026-dong-nam-a-co-gay-bat-ngo-20250909100641829.htm