Defeating the Vietnamese team, Indonesia benefits from both sides.

Indonesia is also the only Southeast Asian team to win the fourth match of the second qualifying round for the 2026 World Cup in Asia. All other teams in the region lost, most of them heavily.

Highlight Vietnam 0-3 Indonesia: Total failure | 2026 World Cup qualifiers

The victory over the Vietnamese team (red shirts) gives Indonesia many advantages.

In Group B, Myanmar lost 0-7 to Syria. The Southeast Asian team is still at the bottom of the group, with only 1 point after 4 matches. With 6 points behind the second-placed Syria, while there are only 2 matches left in the second qualifying round, Myanmar is almost eliminated. According to the regulations, each second qualifying round group will only select the top 2 teams from each group to enter the third qualifying round.

In Group C, the two representatives of Southeast Asian football, Thailand and Singapore, both suffered heavy losses. Thailand lost 0-3 to South Korea at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok (Thailand), while Singapore lost 1-4 to China at Tianjin Olympic Stadium (China).

What did coach Philippe Troussier leave behind for Vietnamese football?

Just like Myanmar in Group B, Singapore in Group C has only 1 point, 6 points behind the second-placed team China, while with only 2 matches left, Singapore is almost eliminated. Thailand theoretically still has a chance to compete for the second-placed ticket with the Chinese team. Thailand currently has 4 points, China has 7 points.

Thailand must defeat China in the fifth match of the second qualifying round in June to gain the right to decide for themselves. However, this is not an easy task, because in theory, China is not weaker than Thailand, not to mention that China will play at home.

In Group D, Malaysia lost 0-2 to Oman. Malaysia has dropped to 3rd place in this group, with 6 points after 4 matches, 3 points behind the top 2 teams Kyrgyzstan and Oman. In theory, Malaysia still has a chance to continue, but they have lost the initiative.

Only Indonesia in Group F has a clear path to the third qualifying round, after the archipelago team defeated Vietnam 3-0 last night (March 26) at My Dinh Stadium. Indonesia has 7 points, 4 points more than Vietnam (ranked 3rd in Group F) and 6 points more than the Philippines (bottom of the table).

If Indonesia wins one more match against the Philippines in June, they will officially have a ticket to the next round. Indonesia does not even need to win against the Philippines, they will still enter the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia, if the Vietnamese team loses to Iraq in June. Both of the above possibilities are very likely to happen, considering the strength of the teams at the moment.

As for the Philippines, like Myanmar in Group B and Singapore in Group C, the Philippines is 6 points behind the second place team in Group F and is almost eliminated.

The most regrettable is the Vietnamese team. Coach Troussier's team thought they were in the "easiest" group, because group F had 3 Southeast Asian teams (Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines), but in the end, the Vietnamese team lost their advantage after 2 consecutive losses to Indonesia, in both the first and second legs.

The Indonesian team has a bright chance to continue in Group F of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

The fact that Southeast Asian teams do not have many opportunities to pass the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia once again reflects that the general level between Southeast Asia and the group of East Asian and West Asian teams (the top group in Asia) is still quite large.

In the last two World Cup qualifiers, Southeast Asia only had one representative appear in the third qualifying round, which was the Thai team in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers under coach Kiatisak and the Vietnamese team in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, under coach Park Hang-seo.

In the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, the number of teams participating in the third qualifying round increased to 18 teams (compared to 12 teams in the most recent qualifying rounds), but Southeast Asian football is at risk of still not being able to increase the number of participating representatives.

Which candidates will replace coach Philippe Troussier at U.23 and Vietnam national team?

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/danh-bai-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-indonesia-loi-don-loi-kep-185240327184919852.htm