Defeating the Philippines, the Vietnamese team moved up one place to 93rd in the world.

Following their victory against the Philippines, the Vietnamese national team rose to 93rd in the world rankings. Coach Troussier's team reached a milestone previously achieved under Coach Park Hang Seo.

Vietnamese national team fans during the match against the Philippines. (Source: VFF)

In their opening match of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, the Vietnamese national team secured a 2-0 victory against the Philippines at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on the evening of November 16th. This win helped the "Golden Star Warriors" regain their confidence after three consecutive defeats against China, South Korea, and Uzbekistan in October (in friendly matches).

According to Football-Ranking 's calculations (based on FIFA's ranking system), the Vietnamese national team gained 9.21 points after their victory against the Philippines. This helped Coach Troussier's team move up one place to 93rd in the world rankings.

Even before Syria's victory over North Korea, the Vietnamese team was ranked 92nd in the world. However, Syria reclaimed this position after gaining 10.84 points for defeating North Korea.

The reason the Vietnamese team received so many points is because this was a World Cup qualifying match (which is calculated using the highest point coefficient). Remember, after winning against Indonesia in the semi-finals of the 2022 AFF Cup (a tournament that doesn't count towards FIFA points), the Vietnamese team only received 1.63 points.

The Vietnamese national team has come very close to reaching a historic milestone achieved under coach Park Hang Seo. Prior to the third round of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, the "Golden Star Warriors" had risen to 93rd in the world rankings in 2020. After that, the team dropped to 99th after a poor performance during that period (one win, one draw, eight losses).

Looking further back, the Vietnamese national team's best ranking was 84th in the world, achieved in 1998. If they win against Iraq (68th in the world) at My Dinh Stadium on November 21st, Coach Troussier's team could potentially surpass the historical milestone set under Coach Park Hang Seo.

That's a huge motivation for Coach Troussier and his team to fight hard in the upcoming match. Besides, a favorable result against Iraq would also give the Vietnamese national team a better chance of advancing to the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/thang-philippines-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-tang-mot-bac-len-xep-thu-93-the-gioi-250426.html