August saw club football in Southeast Asia enter a new era with the start of the inaugural ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™, but the attention now shifts to national teams with some of ASEAN’s top nations in action during the September international window.
Indonesia will begin their FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers third round campaign with a visit to Saudi Arabia while Cambodia face Sri Lanka to keep their AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualification hopes alive. Malaysia and the Philippines meet in the historic Merdeka Tournament while Vietnam and Thailand will battle in a tri-nation series also featuring Russia.
Indonesia finished behind Iraq in their group to book a place in the third round of the World Cup qualifiers for the very first time and will now eye a return to the global showpiece for the first time since 1938 when they, then known as the Dutch East Indies, became the first Asian nation to take part in the World Cup.
Shin Tae-young’s youthful side will begin their campaign in Group C against Roberto Mancini’s Saudi Arabia at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah on Thursday, and it could prove to be a real test of their credentials as they face a Saudi side looking to reach a third successive World Cup and boast stalwarts like Salem Al Dawsari and new AS Roma signing Saud Abdulhamid.
Indonesian fans could then create an electrifying atmosphere when their nation host Australia at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta for their second match on Tuesday. The two teams last met in the last 16 of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in Al Rayyan, where the Socceroos secured a 4-0 victory.
Group C of the qualification campaign for the 2026 edition, hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States, also features four-time Asian champions Japan, China PR and Bahrain.
Meanwhile, Cambodia will hope to make it to the third round of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers when they face Sri Lanka in a two-legged playoff this week. Timor-Leste will play Mongolia while Brunei Darussalam take on Macau in the other playoff ties.
The playoff winners will then join ASEAN sides Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Myanmar and Laos in the third round of the Asian Cup qualifiers where 24 teams will contend for the six spots left in the 2027 Asian Cup.
ASEAN champions Thailand and Vietnam will also be in action during the international window with the two sides participating in a tri-nation series with Russia, as the Southeast Asian sides prep for the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup™ 2024 which kicks off on December 4.
Hosts Vietnam will face Russia at My Dinh National Stadium on Thursday before the War Elephants take on the Russians two days later. Hanoi will then witness a heavyweight all-ASEAN clash as Kim Sang-sik's Vietnam and Masatada Ishii's Thailand face off on September 10 in a repeat of the 2022 AFF Championship title clash.
Malaysia, under caretaker coach Pau Marti Vicente, and the Philippines will be in action in the 43rd edition of the Merdeka Tournament with the two sides facing off at Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. The winners will progress to the final where they face the winners of the other tie between Tajikistan and Lebanon on Sunday.
The losers of the two semi-finals will also battle each other in a match to decide the third place on the same day.
Photo: PSSI
Photo: PSSI
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