If Vietnam wins against Japan, the national team will move closer to the World Cup.

Changing history

Although there have been times when the Vietnam national team has created surprises against Japan, however, those were in unofficial tournaments organized by FIFA. In official tournaments, the Vietnam national team has never tasted victory in two confrontations at the national team level, which were a 1-4 loss in the group stage of the 2007 Asian Cup and a 0-1 defeat in an international friendly match held at Home's Kobe Stadium in 2011 in Japan.

Japan national team lineup. Photo: Zing

Victory in this match will change the history of the two teams' confrontations in a more positive direction for the Vietnamese national team, affirming the progress of coach Park Hang-seo's team in recent times.

First time entering the semi-finals of the Asian Cup

After 17 times the tournament was held, the Vietnamese team only achieved the highest achievement of reaching the quarterfinals in 2007. The 2019 Asian Cup is also only the second time the Vietnamese team has reached the final round when in 2007, as one of the four host teams, the Vietnamese team had a direct entry, in the same group with the defending champion Japan, the defending champion of the 2006 Asian Games Qatar and the defending champion of the West Asian Championship UAE.

It was thought that they would just be a weak team, but coach Alfred Riedl's team had an excellent performance to win 2nd place after the group stage to go straight to the quarter-finals, then had to stop before the team that won the tournament championship, Iraq.

Vietnam national team at Asian Cup 2019. Photo: Tuan Huu

At the 2019 Asian Cup, Vietnam was lucky to enter the round of 16 with a ticket as one of the 3rd teams in the group stage with the best results. However, in this year's tournament, Vietnam was not in an easy group with the presence of 2 very strong teams from West Asia, Iran and Iraq.

Entering the round of 16 to face Jordan, Vietnam played a dedicated football and dominated their opponents, but they could not defeat their opponents in 120 minutes of play and had to rely on a series of lucky penalties to get the more deserving team to advance.

And if they win against their opponents, coach Park Hang-seo's team will continue to make history when the Vietnamese team reaches the Asian Cup semi-finals for the first time.

Sure to get a medal

According to the announcement of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the 3rd/4th place match will not be held, which means the two losing teams in the semi-finals will share the Bronze Medal.

Thus, if the Vietnamese team overcomes the difficult hurdles that lie ahead, they will certainly win a medal at this tournament. This is something no team in Southeast Asia has ever done at a continental tournament. In addition to winning a medal, the Vietnamese team will also surely receive a "huge" bonus of up to 1 million USD from the Organizing Committee.

Vietnam national football team is ranked 100th in the world. Photo: FIFA

Big changes in FIFA rankings

If Vietnam wins Japan in 90 minutes of official play or extra time: +29.5 points, wins on penalties: +19.5 points and if they lose, no points will be deducted. Currently, Vietnam has 1229 points, ranked 100th in the world.

Thus, if they make it to the semi-finals, the Vietnamese team will get at least 19.5 - 29.5 points to 1248.5 - 1258.5 points and will increase at least 5 to 8 places on the FIFA rankings.

Getting closer to the World Cup

According to the current FIFA rankings, Vietnam will participate in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers from the second qualifying round. In this round, the teams will be divided into 8 groups, each group has 5 teams. Therefore, the seeding method is also divided into 5 levels, each level has 8 teams.

Photo: AFC

Specifically, Vietnam is currently ranked 100th in the world and 17th in Asia on the FIFA rankings, which means we are at the top of the 3rd seed group. Thus, it will be very difficult for the Vietnam national team to overcome the teams in groups 1 and 2 in the World Cup qualifying round.

However, if they win the match against Japan, Vietnam will surpass at least Palestine to enter the top 16 of Asia and enter the second seed group. That will help Vietnam fall into the group more easily in the second qualifying round and have a great chance to go to the final qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in Asia./.

What did the Japanese coach say before the match against Vietnam?

(Baonghean.vn) - Opening the press conference on the evening of January 23, Mr. Moriyasu commented: "After 2 days, we are still a bit tired but hope the players will recover their physical and mental strength in time to best prepare for the match with Vietnam."