What are the chances for Southeast Asian teams at the 2019 Asian Cup?

The most successful team in Southeast Asia, Thailand, is in Group A with the host UAE, Bahrain and India. Of these, UAE is likely to be the first team in Group A to enter the round of 16, while India is considered the weakest team in the group.

The second official ticket in Group A to the knockout stage will in theory be decided between Thailand and Bahrain. These are truly two equal opponents in Asia.

Thailand was not successful in 2018, failed at the AFF Cup at the end of the year, lost the Southeast Asian championship to the Vietnam team, but they are still the football team with the best depth in the region.

Que Ngoc Hai was chosen by coach Park Hang-seo and his teammates to be the captain of the Vietnam national team. Photo: Trung Kien

The reason why the Golden Temple team did not go all the way at the AFF Cup was partly because they lacked the most important pillars in that tournament, including goalkeeper Kawin, defender Theerathon Bumanthan, midfielder Chanathip Songkrasin and striker Teerasil Dangda.

Currently, 3 of the 4 players mentioned above are on the Thai team list for the 2019 Asian Cup, so Thailand is not afraid of Bahrain. If they overcome the West Asian team, coach Rajevac's team will most likely finish at least second in Group A.

Even if they do not beat Bahrain, Thailand can still advance to the knockout round if they beat India and do not finish the group stage with a very low goal difference, as the round of 16 still has room for four of the six third-placed teams with the best records.

The possibility of Thailand defeating India is very likely, because Thai football is stronger than Indian football.

Similar is the case of the Vietnamese team in group D. In a group with Iran and Iraq, former Asian Cup champions, coach Park Hang Seo's team has determined that the main opponent to win against is Yemen.

If the Vietnamese team wins against Yemen, with the condition that we don't let our sub-index get too low, we have every right to think about a ticket to the round of 16.

And just like Thailand in Group A, the possibility of Vietnam winning against Yemen is not an impossible task, because the general level of Yemeni football is not too high.

The most difficult group of 3 Southeast Asian teams at the 2019 Asian Cup is the Philippines. The team under coach Sven Goran Eriksson fell into group C, a group with South Korea, China and Kyrgyzstan.

Of these, South Korea is of course the strongest team in the group. China, although unstable, is still a football nation that cannot be underestimated, and is led by the World Cup winning coach Marcello Lippi (Italy).

That is, if we compare coaching experience, the Philippines is confident in coach Eriksson's experience, but the Chinese team has a coach who is more talented and experienced than Mr. Eriksson.

In addition, compared with the third opponent in Group C, Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines does not dare to claim to be stronger than this team.

The only consolation for the Southeast Asian team is that they will have the best squad to participate in the tournament, because the Asian Cup is a tournament on the FIFA schedule, so the Philippine team does not have to worry about suddenly losing players like when they played in the AFF Cup not long ago.