Vietnam's FIFA ranking improved after their win against Nepal, Indonesia in danger.

The Vietnamese national team is making a comeback.

After a period of consistently dropping in the FIFA rankings and losing points, the Vietnamese national team showed a remarkable recovery after the September FIFA Days without matches. The victory against Nepal marked the beginning of the comeback for coach Kim Sang-sik's team.

The Vietnamese national team has shown remarkable progress in their recovery.

Photo: Dong Nguyen Khang

Goals from Nguyen Tien Linh in the 9th minute, Pham Xuan Manh in the 67th minute, and Nguyen Van Vi in the 72nd minute secured an easy 3-1 victory for Vietnam against the weaker Nepalese team. The South Asian side only caused a slight surprise when Sanish equalized 1-1 in the 17th minute.

This victory earned the Vietnamese national team 6.98 points, bringing their total to 1,176.9 points, according to Footy Rankings (a website specializing in FIFA ranking calculations). This moved them up one place, from 114th in the September FIFA rankings to 113th in the world .

The Vietnamese national team still has one match left against Nepal at 7:30 PM on October 14th at Thong Nhat Stadium (Ho Chi Minh City). This is the return match in the fourth round of the third qualifying stage for the 2027 Asian Cup.

Nepal's coach regrets the red card, but is more determined for the return match against Vietnam.

The Nepal team chose Thong Nhat Stadium as their home ground due to the poor condition of domestic pitches. This gave the Vietnamese team an advantage, allowing them to secure another victory and improve their FIFA ranking. It also allowed them to continue putting pressure on the Malaysian team, currently leading Group F with 9 points after 3 wins. The Vietnamese team has 6 points after 2 wins and 1 loss.

The Malaysian national team also climbed 4 places after their 3-0 victory over Laos, now that the 7 players who illegally naturalized themselves were no longer sanctioned by FIFA. However, Harimau Malaya's current ranking (119th in the world) could change at any time once FIFA's sanctions take effect, and if the Malaysian Football Federation's appeal is unsuccessful, and if the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) declares them lose two matches 0-3 for using illegally naturalized players – specifically, their 2-0 win against Nepal on March 25th and their 4-0 win against Vietnam on June 10th.

The Indonesian national team is in danger of missing out on the 2026 World Cup and dropping in the FIFA rankings if they lose to Iraq again.

Photo: Reuters

Meanwhile, after their 2-0 victory over Taiwan on October 9th, the Thai national team achieved two goals: returning to the top 100 in the world rankings (ranked 99th) with an additional 6.71 points (up 2 places). The "War Elephants" also revived their hopes of securing first place in Group D to qualify directly for the 2027 Asian Cup, thanks to their main rival Turkmenistan's unexpected 0-1 defeat to Sri Lanka.

Currently, all three teams in Group D have 6 points after 3 matches, with Turkmenistan leading due to a better head-to-head record against the other three teams (+1), followed by Sri Lanka (goal difference 0) and Thailand (-1).

In the next round, Thailand needs to continue winning against Taiwan to increase their hopes, while Turkmenistan and Sri Lanka will face each other again (both on October 14). Thailand will then have their fate in their own hands when they play Sri Lanka (November 18) and Turkmenistan again on March 31, 2026.

In Southeast Asia, only Indonesia dropped points and was relegated after losing 2-3 to Saudi Arabia in the fourth round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia on October 9th.

The Indonesian team has now dropped to 120th in the world rankings, and their chances of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup are in danger. They could also continue to fall in the FIFA rankings if they lose to Iraq in their next match at 2:30 AM on October 12th.

This is a crucial match for coach Kluivert and his team in their hopes of qualifying for the World Cup; a draw or a loss would significantly increase their chances of being eliminated.