Vietnam top Southeast Asia in fair play ranking

After an impressive performance during the qualifiers, Vietnam are the only team in Southeast Asia to advance. The Golden Dragons also topped Southeast Asia in terms of fair play at the tournament.

Vietnam players only received nine yellow cards throughout eight second round matches, an average of one yellow per game. Four games saw no allocation of yellow cards.

According to the Asian Football Confederation, a yellow card would cost the team a point, an indirect red (two yellow in one game) three points, and a direct red four.

Therefore, the fair play point of Vietnam in the second round is -9, leading the ranking, followed by Thailand and the Philippines (-11), and Indonesia (-13). The lowest ranked teams are Myanmar (-21) and Malaysia (-20).

In the second round, Vietnam went unbeaten during the first seven games and only suffered a defeat against the UAE, peaking second in group G.

They advanced as one four best second-placed teams.

Twelve teams in the final qualifying round will be divided into two groups of six. The sides will compete between Sept. 2, 2021 and March 29, 2022. The top two teams of each group will qualify directly for World Cup 2022 Qatar, while the two third-placed teams enter the playoffs.

The draw for the final round will take place on July 1.