Vietnam achieved a miracle in the Asian U23 qualifiers
The second round of the U23 Asian qualifiers ended on the evening of September 9, when no team was sure to advance except Philippe Troussier's team. Vietnam has six points after two matches, three points more than Yemen. The remaining two teams in Group C, Singapore and Guam, both have one point, so they no longer have a chance to compete for the top of the group. If Vietnam loses to Singapore in the final round, and Yemen wins against Guam with any score, the West Asian representative will not be able to reach the top of the table. Because at that time they had the same score as Vietnam but lost in the head-to-head sub-index.
Before Vietnam, the last time a team qualified one round early was 11 years ago, when Iran, Jordan, Japan, North Korea and China all did this. But then, the qualifying round consisted of only seven groups, each with five or six teams.
Since the 2016 Asian U23 Championship, four-team groups have begun to appear in the qualifying round, reducing the possibility of getting an early spot. Since then, no team has moved forward until the achievements of Troussier and his students. The team did this thanks to Guam and Singapore sharing points in the second round. Because if one of these two teams wins, Vietnam cannot be sure of being at the top of the group.
The U23 Asian qualifiers limit players born from January 1, 2001 and later, including 41 teams divided into 11 groups, in which finals host Qatar participates but does not count the results. The top 11 teams in each group, and four second-place teams with good records, will join Qatar in the final round in April 2024. Because there are three-team groups and four-team groups, the results of the bottom team will not be counted when comparing the second-place teams.
This qualifying round takes place at the same time as FIFA Days, which is the first step towards the 2024 Olympics, so teams try to send their strongest squad. The final round will take place in Qatar in 2024, from April 15 to May 3.
