Thailand jumped 9 places, significantly narrowing the gap with the Vietnamese team.

The 2023 Asian Cup is an official FIFA tournament. Therefore, matches in this tournament are given a very high coefficient by FIFA. If an underdog team wins a team ranked higher, they will be awarded a significant number of points.

Thailand jumped 9 places in the FIFA rankings, to 105th (Photo: Getty).

Thailand is a typical example. At this point, the "War Elephants" are ranked 113th in the world. They just defeated their opponent Kyrgyzstan (ranked 97th) with a score of 2-0 in the opening match of the 2023 Asian Cup. Therefore, the team of coach Masatada Ishii has been added 19 points (according to the calculation of Football-ranking based on FIFA's scoring method).

That helped Thailand rise 9 places on the FIFA rankings, to 105th in the world. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese team dropped one place, to 95th in the world after losing to Japan.

Suppose, if the Thai team wins against Oman (74th) and Saudi Arabia (56th), they will significantly improve their position on the FIFA rankings. The "War Elephants" can even surpass the Vietnamese team if coach Troussier and his team do not play well against Indonesia and Iraq.

Of course, improving their position on the FIFA rankings is not the top priority of the Vietnamese and Thai teams at this time.

The Vietnamese team dropped one place to 95th after losing to Japan (Photo: Getty).

Coach Troussier's team is determined to pass the group stage like the tournament 5 years ago. After losing to Japan, the Vietnamese team must win against Indonesia in the decisive match to hope to compete for a ticket to the next round.

Meanwhile, Thailand also has the advantage after winning against Kyrgyzstan. They have a high chance of qualifying if they gain 1 more point in the two matches against Oman and Saudi Arabia. Because, in addition to the top two positions, 4/6 third-placed teams with the best results also qualify.

In the second round of the Asian Cup group stage, the Vietnamese team will play Indonesia at 9:30 p.m. on January 19. Meanwhile, Thailand will face Oman on January 21.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/thai-lan-nhay-vot-9-bac-thu-hep-khoang-cach-dang-ke-voi-tuyen-viet-nam-20240118145035497.htm