Games. However, having entered the tournament, it would become Thailand's complete nightmare. They opened their game with a 0–1 loss to North Korea before got slapped with the same result to Japan, eventually eliminated the Young Elephants from the competition. The Thais bid goodbye from the competition in a humiliating fashion, with a devastating 1–5 loss to Palestine. To add the dismay, their defeated rivals Malaysia and Vietnam both moved on to progress from the group stage, with the latter managed to reach the final and ended in second place. 2020 AFC U-23 Championship Thailand was awarded as host of the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship, therefore they were automatically qualified. Thailand still participated in the qualification as an opportunity to train and improve the team. Thailand, once again, finished second, after beating Indonesia and Brunei, but lost to Vietnam. Before the tournament, Thailand was eliminated at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games after the group stage. In the group stage, Thailand would face Iraq, Australia and maiden debutant Bahrain, and was tipped favorably to progress, mainly due to Australia's underperformance in the tournament and inexperienced Bahrain. Thailand prepared by playing against Saudi Arabia in the friendly encounter, but lost 0–1. In their first match against inexperienced Bahrain, the Thais proved to be too dominant for the visitor, as the Thais demolished Bahrain 5–0. This win allowed more Thai supporters coming to cheer for the Thai side in their second encounter against underperformed Australia, instead, Thailand suffered a heartbreaking 1–2 loss to Australia despite having taken the lead and putting Thailand's quest to the final stage in their final game against Iraq. In final matches in group state Thailand draw Iraq 1–1 earn a spot in the quarterfinals of the tournament for the first time in AFC U-23 Championship as the second-placed team in the group behind Australia. In quarterfinals Thailand have to face with the winner of Group B, Saudi Arabia and lost with penalty 1-0 end the way to 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup The 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup final tournament was held in Uzbekistan from 1–19 June 2022. Thailand qualified for the tournament by runner-up in the qualification stage in Mongolia in October 2021, which drew; 1-1 against Mongolia; 3-0 against Laos and 0–0 against Malaysia. In the group stage, Thailand(pot2) was drawn into group C with South Korea(pot1), Vietnam(pot3), and Malaysia(pot4). All