Three Southeast Asian teams in the second qualifying round of the Asian region

The Vietnamese women's team, along with Thailand and the Philippines, are participating in the second qualifying round of the 2024 Paris Olympics, but the chances of the three Southeast Asian representatives advancing are quite slim.

The Vietnamese women's team returned to the training ground to prepare for the match against India in the second qualifying round of the 2024 Paris Olympics. (Source: VFF)

According to Dan Tri newspaper, in the second qualifying round of the 2024 Paris Olympics women's football in Asia, the Vietnamese women's team is in Group C with Japan, Uzbekistan and India.

After losing 0-1 to Uzbekistan last night (October 26), coach Mai Duc Chung's team has almost no chance of qualifying.

According to the rules of the Olympic women's football qualifying round, the top team of each group (there are a total of three groups in the second qualifying round), along with the second-placed team with the best record, will advance to the third qualifying round.

After losing to Uzbekistan, the Vietnamese women's team will find it difficult to win second place in the group, while the top spot in Group C of the second qualifying round will almost certainly belong to Japan (former world champions).

Two other representatives of Southeast Asian women's football present in the second qualifying round include the Philippines (Group A) and Thailand (Group B).

Thailand was drawn into a very difficult group, including China, North Korea and South Korea. In the opening match yesterday afternoon, Thailand lost 1-10 to South Korea. In theory, South Korea is weaker than North Korea and China, so the Thai women's team has almost no hope in the remaining matches.

The Philippine women's team is in the same group as Australia, Iran and Chinese Taipei. Australia is the strongest team in this group and is likely to take the top spot. The Philippines can aim for second place in Group A.

But even then, it will still be difficult for the Philippines to compete for a play-off ticket because they still have to compete on points with the second-place teams in Group B and C, which could be North Korea, South Korea, China (in Group B) and Uzbekistan (in Group C).

Even if the Philippines gets a wild card to the third round, it will still be difficult for them to get past this stage. In the third round, there are only 4 teams left.

These four teams are divided into two pairs of knockout matches. In that case, the Philippines' opponents could be Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Australia or China.

There is no chance for the Philippines to meet one of the five representatives of the above mentioned Asian women's football powers (Asia only has a total of two slots in the women's football event at the 2024 Paris Olympics).

Source