A few days ago, FIFA announced the latest world rankings in 2024, in which the national football team, which was dismal in the Asian Cup, appeared in the 88th position, which also means that the national football team has plummeted by 9 places after the last international break. In terms of Asian rankings, the national football team ranked 11th before the Asian Cup, and the ranking of the national football team also dropped 2 places to 13th after the game.
It is worth noting that this is also a new low in the world ranking of the national football team in the past 8 years. According to official data, in the past 8 years, in addition to the current 88th, only in 2016 and 2022, the national football team ranked 82nd and 80th respectively, ranking outside the 80th, and in the other years, the national football team was ranked before the 80th, of which in 2017, the national football team ranked the highest in the world, 71st.
In response to the bottom of the rankings, some analysts believe that this is closely related to the recent performance of the national football team, and it is closely related to the five games. These five matches were a 0-2 defeat to Oman and a 1-2 defeat to Hong Kong, China, in the friendly matches, as well as a 0-0 draw with Tajikistan and Lebanon and a 0-1 defeat to Qatar in the three matches in the group stage of the Asian Cup. In these 5 A-level matches, it is difficult for the national football team to find a win, and the performance is really unsatisfactory.
Of course, for the current ranking of the national football team, many fans think that there is still water, after all, behind the national football team, there are not only new stars such as Syria, Thailand, and Vietnam that the national football team has lost, but also old teams such as Syria, Tajikistan, Lebanon, and India, which have not fallen behind the national football team. Some fans even sarcastically said that at present, there are only a handful of teams in Asia where the national football team can win 100%.
However, compared to the plummeting ranking of the national football team in the world, fans are more uncomfortable with the decline in the number of places in Asia, after all, FIFA has increased the number of places in the Asian region of the World Cup to 8.5 in order to take care of the national football team, and some fans have excitedly said that the national football team can finally enter the World Cup, but from the current situation, perhaps the national football team may really have to live up to FIFA's kindness, after all, we have all seen it in the Asian Cup, and it is quite difficult for the national football team to reach the top 15, let alone the top 8.5.