Only win against Thailand will guarantee AFC U23 qualification for Vietnam

Despite winning 6-0 against Brunei and 1-0 against Indonesia, they will probably be eliminated if they lose to Thailand and face a tricky time if they draw.

A win will take them to the top spot in group K and ensure automatic qualification.

The first-placed team in all 11 groups will get a direct ticket to the tournament where they will join Thailand, who qualify automatically as the host, and the five best second-placed teams.

Among second-placed teams, Vietnam is ninth with three points, a goal difference of +1 and two yellow cards since their match against Brunei does not count after Pakistan withdrew from the qualifiers, leaving group F with just three teams. So, to ensure fairness, the results of all matches played against last-placed teams will be scratched.

If Vietnam draw tonight, at least five other second-placed teams need to lose their last match for them to go through.

Vietnam also have the disadvantage of playing in an early time zone and kick off at 8 p.m. in Hanoi tonight, one hour before matches in groups A, B, C, D, and E, whose teams would thus know exactly what result they need.

The current rankings of the second-placed teams: