In the fourth round of the second phase of the Asian group of the World Preliminaries, Vietnam suffered a 0-3 defeat in Group F and suffered a double kill by Indonesia, a team in the third pot, and India was defeated 1-2 in Group A, losing two consecutive games against Afghanistan. The two fourth-pot teams, Indonesia and Afghanistan, defeated the second-tier teams in this round and staged a counterattack and a big upset.
India-Afghanistan
India are in Pot 2 of Group A, 18th in Asia, along with Qatar, Kuwait and Afghanistan. In the last round, India met Afghanistan, a fourth-pot team, but I didn't expect the two sides to play a half-catty against eight taels, and it ended in a 0-0 draw, which can be regarded as a small upset. In this round, India returned to the home stadium to play a second match with Afghanistan, and thought that they could win the game smoothly and take all three points. However, it backfired, and India's home play was not as good as in the previous round.
India continued to press with home advantage, but Afghanistan showed a tough stance and engaged in a fierce confrontation in midfield. The two sides have come and gone, and Afghanistan, ranked 31st in Asia, has not shown a significant disadvantage. Late in the half, India pressed a penalty in the box and Chetri converted the penalty to give India the lead.
In the second half, the situation changed dramatically, with Afghanistan withstanding their opponents' attacks at the defensive end and creating shooting opportunities to threaten the opposition's goal. India's tactics were too conservative and wanted to maintain the lead until the end, but instead gave their opponents more opportunities to counter-attack. In the 71st minute, Afghanistan finally found a good opportunity, Akbari received a cross from the side of his teammate and grabbed the point to push the goal to equalize the score. Morale-high Afghanistan has become more courageous and threatens to attack more frequently. In the 89th minute, Sharif broke through in the penalty area and was brought down by the opponent to create a penalty, and he took the penalty himself to score the ball to overtake the score. In the end, Afghanistan defeated India 2-1.
Unbeaten in two games against India, Afghanistan, ranked 158th in the world, has 1 win, 1 draw and 2 losses, and is tied with India with 4 points, ranking behind India only on goal difference. India, ranked 117th in the world, only scored 1 point in two rounds against Afghanistan, a fourth-tier team, and was reversed in this round, causing a considerable upset.
Vietnam-Indonesia
There was also a surprising result in Group F, which consists of four teams: Iraq, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia. Vietnam are the second team in Pot 2 and the favourites in this group to qualify for the round of 18. However, in the last round, they lost 0-1 away to Indonesia, a fourth-tier team, and caused quite an upset. Back at home in this round, they will inevitably get a win. However, it backfired, and they were relentlessly beaten at home, with a worse ending than the previous one.
Indonesia were not afraid of the disadvantages of playing away from home, and their fierce attack from the beginning made the home team Vietnam very uncomfortable, and in the ninth minute, Ezes managed to grab a penalty in front of goal to get Indonesia off to a dream start. After conceding the goal, the Vietnamese team was even more panicked, and there were frequent openings in the backfield. Midway through the half, Olatelmann Ghosn seized the opportunity to take advantage of a low shot from a tight angle to make it 2-0. In the second half, although Vietnam actively adjusted their tactics and increased their attack, and attackers such as Hu Tan Cai and Nguyen Hoang Duc also sent very threatening shots, they did not grasp the opportunity well and failed to convert it into a goal. In the 90+8th minute of stoppage time, Indonesia, which withstood the onslaught of the opponent, played a sharp counterattack, and Sananta seized the opportunity to shoot into the net. In the end, Indonesia beat Vietnam 3-0 away.
Indonesia (29th in Asia), ranked 142nd in the world, defeated Vietnam (15th in Asia), ranked 105th in the world, in two home and away games, and it was a big upset. After the end of this round, Iraq defeated the Philippines 5-0 and qualified for the two rounds ahead of schedule with a complete victory. The fourth-pot team Indonesia has 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, and 7 points are in sight, while Vietnam has 1 win and 3 losses, and only 3 points have lost the initiative to advance. The Philippines finished bottom of the group with 1 draw and 3 losses.