1. Japan (17) 2. Iran ( 20) 3. Korea Republic (24) 4. Saudi Arabia (27) 5. Jordan (39) 6. Iraq (45) 7. Bahrain (48) 8. China (49) 9. Uzbekistan (51) 10. Oman (55) Source: FIFA
Those rankings are accurate. 1 Japan 2 Iran 3 SK 4 KSA I agree with those rankings and think these teams will make it to W2006. Who will be the fifth team?
I don't agree with SK and KSA being in the top 4 at the moment as teams like uzbekistan are doing better than both. Only if they had let iran go to the final of afc we would have iran at number 1 instead of japan but i don't mind seeing japan on top they deserve it as much as iran. Hopefully the 2nd round of wcq's will have them switch positions again that is if the two teams get paired in the same group. BTW has anybody noticed that it is always the same 4 teams? when was the last time that a team other than iran japan korea and ksa was on top of asia or top 4 for that matter? even when china qualified to the wc and iran didn't iran was still like the 2nd or 3rd team in asia according to fifa's rankings. has iraq ever been in the top 4? maybe kuwait china or jordan? i don't think so. Here are the top 4 in the past 2 years. as you can see japan has been the most consistent. Iran, Korea and Saudi had kept changing.
This is not good for Asian football. I want to see other teams break into this Asian elite 4 group. Tougher competition among Asian teams will improve level of Asian soccer as whole.
not only tougher, but Consistant over a long period of time. These 4 top countries also have to watch out, especially the Associations as a whole (keeping players healthy, stressing youth development, money management, choosing the right coach)...
Out of the possible teams in the top four that might not make it, the team I will pick to play a concaf team could be KSA. KSA has lost their fear factor and they are not as dominant. Teams would use to get intimidated playing against KSA. Now the only teams that get intimidated are perhaps small arab countries say Qatar for example. KSA did not make it past first round of the Asian Cup and that should be of a concern to them. Iran Japan and S Korea seem like safe bets.
Yep Team -- Highest Ranking -- Date Japan -------- 9 ---------- 18-FEB-98 Iran ---------- 17 --------- 14-APR-04 KSA ---------- 21 --------- 07-JUL-04 S. Korea ------ 17 --------- 23-DEC-98 Team -- Highest Ranking -- Date Japan ------- 62 ---------- 16-FEB-00 Iran --------- 122 --------- 22-MAY-96 KSA ---------- 63 --------- 06-SEP-00 S. Korea ------ 62 --------- 21-FEB-96