When will Southeast Asia fulfill its World Cup dream?

Of course, it is almost “default” that in addition to the top teams such as Japan, Korea, Iran, Australia, Saudi Arabia (5 places) who have entered the World Cup many times, this time the opportunity will come to the average teams such as China, Uzbekistan, UAE, Iraq... (3 - 3.5 remaining places).

However, football is full of surprises, so hopefully there will be some "errors" in the above assessment, so that even the small opportunity is not out of reach for Vietnam or Thailand.

In the history of regional football, Indonesia participated in the 1938 World Cup without having to compete in the qualifying round (as the East Indies, a colony of the Netherlands) but now it is extremely difficult to find a place in the 3rd qualifying round of the World Cup in Asia.

Meanwhile, Thailand reached the third round in the 2002 and 2018 World Cups but only got draws and finished bottom of the group. Vietnam reached the third round in the 2022 World Cup, got a 3-1 win over China, a 1-1 draw against Japan but still finished bottom of the group and is still struggling.

This 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign, entering the second round in the region with teams Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore, in which, in group F there are 3 teams Philippines, Vietnam and Iraq. That is an advantage, because the top spot in the group is very difficult to slip away from Iraq, the second place to enter the third round is predicted to be a race between 2 teams Indonesia and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Thailand is in Group C with South Korea and China, so it will be very difficult for the Golden Temple team. Malaysia is in Group D with Oman, Kyrgyzstan, and Taiwan-China, which are not too strong teams, so there is hope. Many people think that Vietnam has the greatest chance of reaching the third round, but in general, those are just initial predictions, and the reality will be much harsher.

Up to this point, the regional teams have gone through the first round of the second qualifying round on November 16 with favorable results for Vietnam (away win against the Philippines by 2 goals) while Indonesia was defeated 1-5 by Iraq and Malaysia (home win against Kyrgyzstan 4-3). Thailand lost 1-2 at home to China and signaled that Mr. Polking's seat is shaking violently. The other teams all lost heavily as predicted against big opponents.

The upcoming matches on November 21 will have many things to confirm which team will soon take advantage to go deeper and further. The Vietnam team will have to face Iraq, who are full of spirit after the leisurely victory over Indonesia as mentioned above.

The Vietnamese team under Park Hang-seo played on par with this West Asian opponent in the 2019 ASIAN Cup when they only lost by a narrow score of 2-3, or in 2015 in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, the two teams drew 1-1 at My Dinh Stadium when the Vietnamese team was under Mr. Miura.

Iraq, the former Asian champion, is still a great force in continental football despite many difficulties. Therefore, in the upcoming home match against Iraq, the Vietnam team will have a hard time achieving the goal of 1 point or even limiting the number of goals conceded to be able to compete with Indonesia later.

Meanwhile, Indonesia will play away against the Philippines and after the dismal first match, they may be able to regain what they had. If Indonesia does not have a favorable result compared to Vietnam against the Philippines, they will push themselves further away from the path to the third round that they had set. Thailand vs Singapore is an opportunity for them to regain victory and hope to reverse the situation later, although it is difficult...

As for the Vietnam team, in theory, they have not had any difficulties against Indonesia or the Philippines, but who knows what will happen when things are changing and waiting. Mr. Philippe Troussier did not win against Indonesia at the U23 level during the 32nd SEA Games and even at the peak of his career, Mr. Park Hang-seo did not win against Indonesia in the 2022 AFF Cup.

After a long period of being the “second runner-up” in the region, Indonesian football has won the Gold Medal at the 32nd SEA Games despite leaving behind a very shameful image of violence. The upcoming match between Troussier and Shin Tae-yong will certainly be worth watching, as they were both World Cup coaches with certain successes.

Of course, the race in Group F also involves Iraq and the Philippines, so any result is important. For example, Indonesia's recent 1-5 loss to Iraq was a big disadvantage that the team playing later like Vietnam will try to avoid repeating in order to gain an advantage later on.

The race of the teams in the region is heating up with the seats of Polking, Shin Tae-yong and even … Troussier if they get the results they want, with Vietnam being the result of the home match against Iraq. But among these, it is clear that Mr. Troussier is “holding the handle” because he dares to do, dares to change to rise up and his young students are contributing to prove that it is completely feasible, both in the short term and in the long term?

No one taxes dreams, even the World Cup dream, but clearly, there is a big gap between dream and reality, not easy to bridge. For Vietnamese football, that gap seems to be very close, but when you get closer, you realize it is still… very far!