I have a feeling that the North Korean players have more motivation to do well than most NTs. :-/ But I probably wouldn't say that they are better than the Phillipines...didn't Palestine win over them in a sorta fluke kind of way? FIFA has the Philippines tied at #130 and North Korea is at #150 (they qualified for this in 2012).
idk. i've been told that the fifa ranking is not really a reliable gauge of a team's ability. it might also be because the southeast asian region have more difficult competition so only few of otherwise skilled countries end up qualifying.
The FIFA ranking ranks results of a team over 4 years. And it has some correcting factors for the weight of the match and the opponent. So one win against a big team will give you a massive amount of points. While beating a low-ranked team might give you even less points than a draw with a big team. The problem is that it is very difficult to objectively look at the ability of a team.
Another problem is that South American and European countries are ranked quite high, which means that they get a lot of points if they win or draw during the Copa America or the Euros because their opponents are also ranked high. While the Asian Cup has a lot of lower ranked countries and that means that they can make less points and stay forever low.
Thanks for the post OP! I didn't know a thing about this tournament so it's very informative. The Asian countries disappointed a bit in Brazil so it will be interesting to see how they do. Guess I'll support the underdog, Palestine.
ill watch iran if they have like the same roster as the wc, they were so hot lol, and they were so close to round of 16, and i hope palestine does well
Lol, I'm not even sad that my shitty NT didn't even qualify. It's amazing how terrible we're in most team sports except for hockey and cricket and hopefully, the ISL will contribute something in terms of football.
But cheers for Palestine making in there! I'd like to see them do well and I'll take an Aussie/Japan/ROK/Iran win! And Australians must be having a pretty awesome start to their year: the Asian Cup in January and then the Cricket World Cup in February, it'll be party central for two months.
Lmao, that was a major embarrassment for us as a country since hockey is our national sport. Yeah, that loss spurned a lot of newspaper articles about how hockey players don't get enough money and proper facilities while cricket players earn millions of dollars every year.
Yeah I remember reading about that! Well the Belgian hockey team has massively improved over the last 10 years, it's a growing sport here, as far as that is possible in a country of 11m of course. :D I will never understand the appeal of cricket. I've seen Indian and Pakistani immigrants play but that's about it.
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i guess i'll just root for iran or japan, just like in the WC.
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The problem is that it is very difficult to objectively look at the ability of a team.
Another problem is that South American and European countries are ranked quite high, which means that they get a lot of points if they win or draw during the Copa America or the Euros because their opponents are also ranked high. While the Asian Cup has a lot of lower ranked countries and that means that they can make less points and stay forever low.
Lol that was a bit of a ramble.
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The Asian countries disappointed a bit in Brazil so it will be interesting to see how they do.
Guess I'll support the underdog, Palestine.
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But cheers for Palestine making in there! I'd like to see them do well and I'll take an Aussie/Japan/ROK/Iran win! And Australians must be having a pretty awesome start to their year: the Asian Cup in January and then the Cricket World Cup in February, it'll be party central for two months.
Thanks so much for this ms_geekette!
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Lmao, that was a major embarrassment for us as a country since hockey is our national sport. Yeah, that loss spurned a lot of newspaper articles about how hockey players don't get enough money and proper facilities while cricket players earn millions of dollars every year.
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Well the Belgian hockey team has massively improved over the last 10 years, it's a growing sport here, as far as that is possible in a country of 11m of course. :D
I will never understand the appeal of cricket. I've seen Indian and Pakistani immigrants play but that's about it.
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