Need an asterisk considering the best team in that continent didn't even participate in the qualifiers.
Well, my list of the top 20, forgot about France. An omission that is even more glaring after they won their ticket to the World Cup despite their 2:0 loss to Ukraine. With the US losing to Austria (after a draw in Scotland), its not hard to make room for France in my list. I would put France at #10 in that list and everyone else moves down a notch, with the US taken out of the top 20.
au contraire, the reigning Copa America champion, (which is how the best team in our continent is chosen) Uruguay, was there.
best 5 is boring IMO heres how the 32 finalists rank by region Conembol 1. Brazil 2. Argentina 3. Uruguay 4. Colombia 5. Chile 6. Ecuador UEFA 1. Spain 2. Germany 3. Portugal 4. Italy 5. Holland 6. France 7. England 8. Belgium 9. Croatia 10. Switzerland 11. Bosnia & H 12. Russia 13. Greece CAF 1. Ghana 2. Nigeria 3. Ivory Coast 4. Cameroon 5. Algeria Concacaf 1. USA 2. Mexico 3. Honduras 4. Costa Rica AFC 1. Japan 2. South Korea 3. Australia 4. Iran I WILL BLEND THEM LATER FOR A 32 TEAM RANKING.
I agree your list makes for a more interesting conversation than arguing about the top 5, when pretty much everyone agrees on 4 of them and the arguments regarding #5 aren't all that thought provoking! But I don't agree with your list Among Asians, Japan is the best. I accept. South Korea would be marginally ahead of Iran despite finishing behind us in qualifying. But not Australia in their present form, despite some encouraging results which might suggest they are bouncing back a bit. Still, Iran was always right up there with these teams and I can't accept that an Australian side that hasn't been in good shape is better than Iran. Unlike you, I would not rate Uruguay as 3rd in Conmebol right now. They have achieved good results recently again, but their performance against Jordan was not inspiring at all despite the 5:0 scoreline. Colombia seem much better and I would rate even Chile ahead of them. I agree, however, that Ecuador is the weakest of the bunch. In Concacaf, you need to switch Honduras and Costa Rica's place. Otherwise, despite Mexico not even deserving its qualification, I know they won't be entirely worthless. (But I have predicted they will end their streak of qualifying to the R 16). I will differ to you on CAF, and while I don't think Portugal is #3, the rest sound more or less correct.
Perhaps Iran is better than Australia but they don't really play many matches for me to evaluate them, anyways I've created a thread specifically for the 32 WC nations, I suggest we continue the conversation there.
Can't believe Colombia aren't on the list. Chile just showed the Euro's how good they are. 1. Brazil 2. Spain 3. Germany 4. Argentina 5. Colombia