Indonesia lost by 12 goals, unlikely to meet Vietnam in Asian tournament

On the afternoon of March 21, the Indonesian beach soccer team entered the opening match against Iran in the Asian Championship. Although an island nation in Southeast Asia, Indonesia is not strong in beach soccer. They are in the fourth seed group, which means the weak teams of the tournament. On the contrary, Iran is a candidate for the championship.

Therefore, there was no surprise when Indonesia lost 2-12 to Iran. Experts predict that the team from the archipelago will not have much chance when facing Afghanistan or UAE. Indonesia is in Group D, has a chance to meet Vietnam (Group C) in the quarterfinals. But Indonesia's chance of going on is not much after losing heavily.

Iran (white shirt) easily defeated Indonesia.

In fact, this defeat has made the atmosphere of Indonesian football even more gloomy. In the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup, they just suffered a bitter 1-5 defeat against Australia.

The 2025 AFC Beach Soccer Championship will take place from March 20-30 at the Jomtien Beach Arena in Pattaya, Thailand. This will be the third time Thailand has hosted the tournament.

This year’s tournament features 16 teams, divided into four groups of four teams each. According to the draw, the Vietnamese beach soccer team is in Group D with Oman, Bahrain and Malaysia.

This is a difficult group for Vietnam because Oman and Bahrain are both at the top of Asian beach soccer, while Malaysia is also highly rated, having reached the quarter-finals twice in four consecutive times participating in the tournament.

In the group stage, teams compete in a round-robin format to determine rankings according to the FIFA beach soccer competition rules. The first and second-placed teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals, semi-finals, and finals. At the end of the tournament, the three best teams will represent the continent at the 2025 Beach Soccer World Cup, scheduled to be held in Seychelles in May.

Mai Phuong

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/tuyen-indonesia-thua-dam-12-ban-kho-co-co-hoi-gap-tuyen-viet-nam-o-giai-chau-a-ar933051.html