Ranking Southeast Asian Teams' Performance in Asian Cup History

 

Southeast Asian teams have never been highly rated as the favourite in Asian Cup history, despite their progress.

Southeast Asia has been considered one of the most progressive regions in the world. Yet, when it comes to football development, it is quite far behind, despite the popularity of football among their people.

In AFC Asian Cup history, seven teams have made appearances since the first edition of the tournament in 1956. Four of them—Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia—are playing in the upcoming 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar. However, only two of them have made their mark in this continental competition.

This year’s Asian Cup was supposed to take place in China last summer. Yet, it kicks off this weekend on January 12 instead, due to Qatar’s climate. China opted to relinquish their hosting rights for the sake of their zero COVID-19 policy. The AFC finally named Qatar as the new host in October 2023.

Here is the ranking of all Southeast Asian teams’ performance in AFC Asian Cup history based on how far they have reached the stages.

Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines

These three nations have never been able to go through the knockout stage of the competition. Indonesia qualified four times consecutively from 1996 to 2007 before sealing their place in Qatar in 2023 this year. Their best performance was probably their last appearance in 2007, when they became the co-host. Being grouped with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and South Korea, Bambang Pamungkas and Co. managed to pick up a 2-1 win over Bahrain at the opener. Their striker, who was known for his header goal and aerial duel, Bambang Pamungkus, scored the winning goal. 

Unfortunately, they suffered narrow defeats against the remaining stronger sides, the former champions Saudi Arabia and South Korea, consecutively. They only sat third at the table. It might have resulted differently, should the English boss, Peter Withe, who was prematurely dismissed before the tournament began.

Malaysia have played their fourth in the 2023 edition this year. Yet, their form was still expectedly unimpressive as they failed to advance. Their best result was in the 1980 edition, when the Malayan Tiger almost went through the knockout stage. Back then, only 10 contestants were in the tournament. They were seeded with South Korea, Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE. Malaysia surprisingly snatched a 2-0 win over UEA and held Qatar and South Korea in a tie. Sadly, their 3-1 loss to the host Kuwait only placed them on the third row of the table, trailing only one point behind the group’s runner-up.

Meanwhile, the Philippines only qualified once for the 2019 edition. Unfortunately, they were hapless against China, Kyrgyzstan, and South Korea, scoring only one goal and conceding seven goals in their sole appearance of the tournament. The Philippines were at the bottom of the table.

Vietnam

Vietnam is currently the most progressive country in Southeast Asia. They have made their fifth appearance in the Asian Cup this year, with impressive results in the previous four editions. Vietnam reached the quarterfinals in the 2019 and 2007 editions and went through to the final four in the first two editions of the competition. Back in 1956 and 1960, they were still playing as South Vietnam and advanced to the final four. It was a common format for continental tournaments in the past, including the UEFA EURO and Copa America.

Their last achievement in 2019 was definitely worth remembering compared to what they did in 2007, when they became the co-host. Park Hang-Seo’s men progressed from the preliminary round as one of the best in third place and eliminated Jordan on penalties in the round of 16. Unfortunately, Que Ngoc Hai and Co lost 1-0 to the eventual runner-up, Japan,in the last eight.

Cambodia

Cambodia had one fantastic performance in the Asian Cup. They only qualified once in 1972 as the region representative alongside Thailand, the tournament host. At that time, Cambodia was known as the Khmer Republic.

In the final round, their impressive form endured as they progressed to the semifinals. The Khmer Rep routed Kuwait 4-0 to advance as a group runner-up under South Korea. Their surprise came to an end after losing 2-1 to Iran and another defeat from the host, Thailand, on penalties in the third-place playoff.

Thailand

Thailand has qualified the most times for the AFC Asian Cup compared to their neighbours in the region. They have played in the final round eight times, including in Qatar 2023 this year.    

The War Elephants’ best result was surely in 1972, when they became the host for the first time. They won third place after beating Khmer Rep on penalties. At the group stage, they were lucky to advance to the semifinals without a single win. In the group consisting of only three games, Thailand finished second due to goal difference after only suffering a narrow 2-3 loss to Iran and sharing spoils in a 1-1 draw against Iraq, who succumbed to a 3-0 defeat while taking on Iran. In the semifinals, their fortunes ended after failing to beat South Korea on penalties.

Meanwhile, in the 2019 edition, Thailand managed to get through to the round of 16 despite their humiliating 4-1 defeat at the opener. Their narrow 1-0 win over Bahrain and 1-1 draw against the UAE helped them finish second at the table. Sadly, they were unable to ease past China at the next stage.

Myanmar

Last but not least, there was Burma, Myanmar’s old name, as the only Southeast Asian team to be the runner-up in the tournament. It was their sole appearance in the 1968 edition. At that time, the competition used a round-robin format in the final round, involving five teams. They snatched two victories over Hong Kong and Israel, which was still in the AFC at the time. They shared spoils against Taiwan but lost to the host and eventual winner, Iran. Myanmar has yet to qualify again ever since.