Tell me about it. To give up 3 in a row is no joke. Interesting how S. Korea beat Paraguay when Japan only drew 2-2; Brazil destroying S. Korea 0-5 shows how football can change in one match.
Paraguay was also experimenting with a different lineup. That is part of the reason why it is hard to take anything away from friendlies.
They were able to accumulate points during the World Cup. Something we missed out on. They were ranked 1 in 2022. Then dropped off but obviously not enough for us to leap frog them.
2 wins and 2 draws in the Qatar WC, plus they haven't lost many matches in two years other than against Argentina (they were ousted in PKs both in WC anc CA so they count as draws).
So I just saw the highlights of the losses of Brazil and Paraguay and yikes they tend to be more of their errors and less than their opponents. Brazil gave the ball away in the worst way possible, then an own goal with a terrible clearance, and the nail in the coffin their GK couldn't properly handle the ball coming at them which was pounced on. For Paraguay they also had a bad clearance that gave their opponent a freebie. The second goal was more of S. Korea actually getting a clean break and staying offside before beating the keeper. I thought these losses were due to the skill of Japan and S. Korea and less on errors made even with experimenting with new/different players.
Norway drew with the Kiwis; they did much better than expected, making me think that when we face them next month they won't be as weak as a nation as I would have expected.