According to the Football-rankings website, the King's Cup victory over Thailand will earn Vietnam (in red) an additional 4.5 FIFA rating points.

As estimated by the Football-rankings website, Park Hang-seo’s side accumulated 5.2 rating points from the King’s Cup, including 4.5 for the 1-0 victory over Thailand and 0.7 points for the defeat against Curacao in the final.

Accordingly, in next month’s FIFA men’s world rankings, Vietnam will surpass Jordan to stand 97th in the world and 15th in Asia with 1,232 points, regardless of the results of remaining FIFA friendly matches.

The draw, which takes place in Qatar on July 17, will feature five pots based on the teams’ July FIFA ranking. Pot One is made up of the top-eight teams in Asia, while Pot Two consists of the remaining eight of the top 16. Those at 17th-24th will join together in Pot Three, and 25th-32nd in Pot Four. The last pot will feature Asia no. 33 and 34, and the six winners of the first-round qualification.

One team from each pot will be placed in each group. No team from the same pot can be drawn in the same group. By making Pot Two, Vietnam will avoid clashes against some strong pot-mates, including Iraq, Syria, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, Oman, Kyrgyzstan and Jordan (or Palestine).

The teams will play in a double round robin tournament from September 2019 to June 2020 to determine the eight group winners and the top four second-placed teams who will advance to the third round of the 2022 World Cup AFC qualifiers. Nhan Dan