U23 Vietnam's 2-0 victory over U23 Bangladesh and 1-0 over U23 Singapore have not been completely satisfactory to fans, as Dinh Bac and his teammates missed many scoring opportunities. However, the current situation in Group C of the 2026 U23 Asian qualifiers is still in favor of coach Kim Sang-sik and his team.
As of the final match against U23 Yemen, U23 Vietnam is leading with 6 points and a goal difference of +3. Meanwhile, the West Asian representative also won 6 points but ranked behind due to a lower goal difference (+2).
This means that only need a draw against U23 Yemen in the final match to ensure U23 Vietnam is at the top of the group and qualifies for the 2026 U23 Asian Cup finals.
According to experts, coach Kim Sang-sik's team is capable of realizing this goal, especially when U23 Yemen has not shown much after the last 2 matches.
If they lose to U23 Yemen, U23 Vietnam will lose the right to decide for themselves in winning tickets to the final round. Van Khang and his teammates must be in the top 4 best second-placed teams to get through the narrow door. In this case, Vietnam will have 6 points with a goal difference of +2 or less. This is an unimpressive achievement when compared to the remaining 10 groups in the qualifying round.
In groups A, D, I, the first and second teams are all earning 6 points after the first 2 rounds. They will face each other directly in the final match and a draw is completely possible.
At that time, the first and second teams both have 7 points, which means they are definitely ranked above U23 Vietnam. Even if we hope to determine the winner in these matches, the minimum goal difference of +6 is enough to give the second-placed teams a much better advantage when competing with U23 Vietnam.
Meanwhile, groups E and F have the first and second teams, both of which have only won 4 points after 2 rounds. However, these cases did not meet in person in the final round. The scenario where the teams simultaneously beat their lower-ranked opponents to finish with 7 points is completely possible. At that time, U23 Vietnam also ran out of opportunities to compete for tickets.
In Group B, G, H, J, K, the top teams have 6 points and the second-placed teams have 3 points. U23 Vietnam can hope to be placed above the second teams of these groups. However, if the developments in groups A, D, I, E, F do not support, coach Kim Sang-sik and his team will still miss the ticket to the final round.
In the meantime, U23 Vietnam will have to compete with 10 other second-placed teams to continue if they lose to U23 Yemen, but the opportunity is not bright. Therefore, winning the final match is the most important goal for Van Khang and his teammates.
