Yup, I posted before that I realize FIFA rankings is a method to show how well the teams have been doing currently. In that respect USA and Mexico should be around top 20 since they have played really well. Rankings show how the teams have played, No disputing that. I guess I sometimes just get annoyed by the fact that lot of people base which teams are better than the other based just on the FIFA rankings alone, or use it as a basis of their bragging rights to show how much better their team is compared to other teams. For example, I've ran into many americans who always insist to me that USA is MUCH superior to Korea (you got to agree whether or not you think USA is better than Korea, the gaps between the two teams at full squad are not as big as the current rankings indicate), and they show FIFA rankings as their primary evidence... that's what irritates me sometimes. Then again it shows that they are just few of the mere US fanboys and I should know better to not let that bother me. It probably also bothers many Koreans that Japan is currently ranked higher than Korea, I'm sure. Most likely since we have much success against them in a face to face match up (and some fans are STILL not over the world cup where we finished ahead of them and looked better than them). But the fact is that Japan has played more Friendly matches and Confederation cup matches and came away with couple wins (including 3-0 against Nigeria, although it was depleted Nigeria squad, still an impressive win). Japan deserves to be higher than Korea right now according to the stats. I'm probably being unfair by saying that FIFA rankings is a flawed system since there is no way to incorporate every single factor that measures quality of the teams, like I said before. But sadly, those things need to be taken into consideration (like quality of the squad playing, etc) to determine true strenght of full side national teams are. I guess that's what I'm trying to point out.
Yeah, I agree and think that the basic flaw in the system is what the strength of each team is when they run out onto the field. But there will never be a way around it unless they start ranking every single player in the world just give it 50 years. With the number of stats that they are starting to collect these days everyone knows everything about everybody.
let's be fair to the team though, this is only like the third time Coelho put together a squad since he became the coach, and he is still testing out different formations, tactics (which is quite different from the system Hiddink used for the WC team) and new players (he specifically said this qualifying round will sorely be the test ground for some of the newer/returning players to the NT from the K-league). Troussier went through this when he first took over Japan, and of course Hiddink went through the same struggles when he first took charge of Korea. He still needs more time to shape up the team to function better as a unit. Let's just wait for the Asian Cup and WC qualifiers before we can judge Coelho and the NT about anything. After that there will be no excuses if they show poor performances.
sooner or later, the ranking system has to be formulated more subjectively to increase credibility. People who actually watch the match can identify who's better than who, more than the score can indicate. as for korea being number 39, we can't complain. we haven't done jack in the past year and a half.
results will always speak for themselves. if Korea looks better than Japan on the field (which they did in Seoul) but loses 0-1 then too bad. You can't have an expert sitting on the sideline grading each team out of 10. It's impossible to be subjective. As the saying goes, when a guy on the losing team is bad mouthing the winning side "look at the scoreboard buddy".
Only the THIRD time? We are talking about the team that came 4th in the world cup playing the team that is ranked 102 right? They just looked really bad. It wasn't anything to do with tactics, formations etc. Passing is a soccer fundamental. If your passes are constantly behind guys who are pushing down the touchline and not going directly to stationary players it says more about talent than those other things. Korea really needs some new legitimate stars coming through the ranks and not these guys that get all the headlines but rarely ever actually do anything. but things are looking up in Korea from where they were pre world cup I have to say.
A new coach needs some time to get their team together. You can't deny that. The new coach tries the new formations and tactic and see which one will ultimately be the best for the team. Just like I said before, Both Troussier and Hiddink went through the same when they took over Japan and Korea for the first time. Some results for you from when both coaches took over: Troussier's results for first 3-5 times at the helm Oct 28, 1998Osaka(Nagai)1 - 0Egypt Dec 14, 1998Tokyo(National)0 - 1Argentina(U-20) Mar 31, 1999Tokyo (National)0 - 2Brazil Jun 3, 1999Tokyo (National)0 - 0Belgium Jun 6, 1999Yokohama0 - 0Peru Jun 29, 1999Asuncion2 - 3Peru Jul 2, 1999Asuncion0 - 4Paraguay Jul 5, 1999Caballero1 - 1Bolivia Sep 8, 1999Yokohama1 - 1Iran Feb 5, 2000Hong Kong0 - 1Mexico Feb 7, 2000Hong Kong0-0(5-4PK)Hong Kong Feb 13, 2000Macao Stadium3 - 0Singapore Feb 16, 2000Macao Stadium9 - 0Brunei Feb 20, 2000Macao Stadium3 - 0 Macao Mar 15, 2000Tokyo (National)0 - 0China Troussier really struggled when he first took over the team as you can see. A PK victory over Hong Kong and only a 3-0 defeat of Macao definitely didn't look too impressive back then. Pretty much an equivalent to how Korea performed in the Oman match. But we all know he gelled his team together in time for the Asian Cup, Confederation cup and the World cup (where they were of course very impressive). Results for Korea with Hiddink the coach first 3-5 times Norway 3 - 2 Korea Paraguay 1 - 1 Korea (PK 5-6) Morocco 1 - 1 Korea UAE 1 - 4 Korea Denmark 2 - 0 Korea Iran 0 - 1 Korea Egypt 1 - 2 Korea Korea 0 - 0 Cameroon Korea 0 - 5 France Korea 2 - 1 Mexico Korea 1 - 0 Austrailia Czech Rep. 5 - 0 Korea Well, we know how crap Hiddink was when he first took over the team, just by looking at the above results... back then Hiddink experimented the 4-back system (which Coelho is ALSO trying right now) for over a year, but that experiment ultimately failed since it resulted in poor defense. He finally gave that up for the 3-4-3 by the time of the world cup since Korea could not get used to the 4 back system. And well... we all know how far Hiddink took them in the world cup. Like I said, by the time of Asian cup and World Cup qualifiers Coelho will run out of excuses for poor performances. Let's wait until then. Another thing I might add is that Oman is a team from the middle east... and all Korean fans know that we traditionally struggled against the teams from there (for whatever reason, may be the style of play or something). Iran have always given us the most trouble in asia, we have always struggled against the Saudis, and we even lost to teams like Qatar and Kuwait in past asian cups. It's been some kind of a jinx that most teams in the world have too (just like how England can't beat Sweden, Turkey can't beat England, or how China can't beat Korea... etc etc). In contrast, we always have done well against African teams. I may be trying to excuse the Korean performance against Oman, and maybe I shouldn't either way since I did hear that they were REALLY poor, but you should realize these kinds of jinxs do exist and have effect on players. I agree with your last two points. one of Korea's biggest problem have always been passing (finishing and scoring goals are others), which is far below world class standard. This could be another reason why Coelho's 4-2-3-1 have not been effective offensively since the system emphasizes lots of passing around midfield. They definitely do need to improve in this department.
Even after the Vietnam and Oman fiasco, South Korea remains 22nd in FIFA rankings. It just shows what I've been saying all along, that FIFA rankings is just not a credible system. As beating these same teams is what moved up Korea in the rankings in the first place, how come Korea doesn't go back down when they lose to them? Doesn't make sense to me.
I think one of the bigger problems with the rankings is that many smaller nations hardly ever play internationals so they don't get the opportunity to move up. Sides that play a lot are rewarded for doing so even if their results are not spectacular. It's possible that teams ranked 20-40 haven't played many games so Korea is able to sit in there even though they have not had good results. The other teams can't overtake them simply by sitting on their hands. maybe I'm wrong.