Vietnamese women footballers lost 1-2 to Uzbekistan in their third match in the second Asian qualifying round of the 2012 London Olympics in Jordan on Friday.

The defeat puts into doubt their qualification chances, leaving them with six points and in a very difficult situation, three points adrift of group leaders Thailand. Uzbekistan is in second place with six points, but they will certainly get three points from a match on Sunday set against Iran, who have withdrawn from the qualifying rounds. Iranian women refused to comply with the rule that doesn’t allow female players to wear shirts that cover their neck. FIFA has said wearing such shirts might be dangerous for the players.

Vietnamese women can now get to the top of the group and advance to the third qualifying round only if they beat Thailand by a margin of three goals in their next clash on Sunday. That will be very hard.

As a rule, the top-placed team of this group will book a berth in the third qualifying round where they will play Japan, Australia, China, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The best two teams will then represent Asia at the London Olympics next year.