SYDNEY (24 July 2017) – Four teams from ASEAN have made the cut for the AFC Under-23 Championship 2018 in China following the conclusion of the qualifiers last night
Two teams – Australia and Malaysia – qualified as group winners while Thailand and Vietnam made the cut as two of six best-placed runners up.
Australia won Group F without conceding a single goal in three matches, beating hosts Myanmar 3-0 in Yangon on Sunday while Malaysia overcame the 3-0 loss to hosts Thailand on Matchday 2 to win Group H in Bangkok.
The Malaysians finished with six points, one more than Thailand who were held 0-0 by Indonesia in their final group match on Sunday.
Malaysia beat Mongolia 2-0 in their final group match.
With China having qualified automatically for the tournament and they emerging as group winners meant an additional berth was available for the best second-placed teams, with six spots up for grabs.
The six spots went to Saudi Arabia (Group B), Syria (Group C), Jordan (Group E), Thailand (Group H), Vietnam (Group I) and Japan (Group J).
AFC Under-23 Championship 2018
Group Winners: Oman (Group A), Iraq (Group B), Qatar (Group C), Uzbekistan (Group D), Palestine (Group E), Australia (Group F), DPR Korea (Group G), Malaysia (Group H), Korea Republic (Group I)
Best Second-Placed Teams: Saudi Arabia (Group B), Syria (Group C), Jordan (Group E), Thailand (Group H), Vietnam (Group I), Japan (Group J)
