In the second match of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, the Vietnamese team suffered a painful 0-1 defeat against Iraq. The West Asian team's only goal was scored by Mohanad Ali in the 90+7 minute.
The Vietnamese team was deducted nearly 10 points after a last-minute defeat against Iraq (Photo: Manh Quan).
According to Football-Ranking's calculations (based on FIFA's formula), the Vietnamese team was deducted 9.89 points after this defeat. That caused Coach Troussier and his team to be pushed back to 94th place in the world .
Previously, after the victory over the Philippines, the "Golden Star Warriors" rose to 93rd place in the world. Thus, Coach Troussier's Vietnam team has not been able to surpass the historical milestone (ranked 93rd in the world) achieved under Coach Park Hang Seo.
From now until the end of the year, the Vietnamese team will not play any friendly matches. Therefore, it is likely that we will end 2023 with the 94th position in the world. This is acceptable for the "Golden Dragons".
Vietnam is still ranked number one in Southeast Asia. Thailand has been deducted 0.4 points and dropped one place to 113th in the world after winning against Singapore and losing to China.
Vietnam team's ranking after losing to Iraq (Photo: Football-Ranking).
Malaysia made an impressive leap by moving up seven places to 130th in the world after two wins against Kyrgyzstan and Chinese Taipei. They are also the only Southeast Asian team to have won all two matches in the second round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Meanwhile, Indonesia dropped one place to 146th after losing to Iraq and drawing with the Philippines. They are ranked 5th in Southeast Asia behind Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.
In January next year, the Vietnamese team will participate in the 2023 Asian Cup, a tournament under the FIFA system. At that time, our ranking will change significantly. In that tournament, the "Golden Star Warriors" are in the same group with Japan, Iraq, and Indonesia.
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