Determining the group of U23 Vietnam in the qualifying round of U23 Asia 2024

This afternoon, May 25, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) conducted a draw to divide the groups for 43 teams participating in the 2024 AFC U23 Championship Qualifiers. As a result, the Vietnam U23 team is in a group with Singapore, Yemen and Guam.

Groups in the 2024 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers

Before the draw, the AFC seeded 43 teams based on their performance at the 2022 AFC U23 Championship in Uzbekistan. Teams that did not qualify for the 2022 finals, along with hosts Qatar, were placed in pot 4.

With the 7th position in the top 11, U23 Vietnam is in the number 1 seed group with Australia, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Jordan and Thailand. Therefore, coach Philippe Troussier and his team will not have to face very strong teams in the qualifying round. In addition, because the 11 host teams of the qualifying round are placed in the same draw, U23 Vietnam will not meet Bahrain, China, Indonesia, Jordan, South Korea, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan.

With the advantage of being in the top seed group and being in the group of host teams hosting the qualifying round, it is not surprising that the draw results bring many advantages to U23 Vietnam, with the participation of opponents including: Singapore, Yemen and Guam. Of these 3 opponents, Singapore and Guam have never qualified for the U23 Asian Cup, while Yemen's last time attending the U23 Asian Cup was in 2002. Playing at home and being supported by home fans is a great advantage for U23 Vietnam in the race for a ticket to the final round. It is expected that the force participating in the 2024 U23 Asian Cup qualifiers of Vietnamese football will be the U22 players who just attended the 32nd SEA Games.

U23 Vietnam has the advantage of playing at home.

At the U23 Asian arena, U23 Vietnam has participated in the final round 4 times in a row, including 1 runner-up position (in 2018) and 1 time reaching the quarter-finals (in 2022).

The 2024 AFC U23 Championship will take place from April 15 to May 3, 2024. The results of this tournament will also be counted for the 2024 Paris Olympic qualifiers. Accordingly, the top 3 teams in the 2024 AFC U23 Championship will automatically qualify for the Olympics, while the losing team in the third-place match will play a Play-off with another team in Africa to compete for the final ticket.

VINH HAI

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