In the latest FIFA rankings Japan have snuck back into the world’s top 40…joint 40th with Northern Ireland – yikes! It’s a far cry from 4 years ago at the equivalent time in the build up to the World Cup when Japan reached the giddy heights of 15th in January 2006. It all went rather wrong as a result of the 2006 World Cup when the Blue Samurai plummeted to 49th…and we’re still trying to claw our way back. It’s not overly helped by the fact that most of Japan’s opposition is quite low ranked, so not many points are gained by beating them.
Japan are still the second ranked team in Asia, well behind Australia who are 23rd.
This isn’t hugely significant, but it backs up something I’ve been thinking for a while, that Japan rarely test themselves against decent opposition. Clearly Japan’s Asian matches are generally against weaker opposition, often significantly so, but when the opportunity arises for friendlies who do Japan play? Venezuela, South Africa, Togo and Scotland are the most recent examples. Only once in the last year have they played a top nation, which was the Netherlands and unsurprisingly Japan were given a footballing lesson by a less than full strength Dutch team.
If Japan are to progress again, and get back to where they were 8 years ago or better then surely they need to test themselves against top opposition more regularly. Ok, so some beatings may have to be taken, but it’s only by testing yourself against teams better than you that you can learn and develop and come back stronger.
I fear for the World Cup if Japan arrive untested by decent opposition.
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