*This content was translated by AI.
The gap between South Korea and Japan widened in this March's A-match, where joys and sorrows were mixed.
Japan's 'Football Channel' reported on the 30th that "FIFA has updated the men's FIFA ranking in real time to reflect the results of international friendly matches held in each country," adding, "Japan, which overpowered Scotland in the enemy territory the day before, achieved a rise in the rankings."
Japan raised its ranking one notch and firmly maintained its position at the top of Asia, the media said.
Previously, the rankings were updated by collecting the results of the matches after all the schedules of the A-match week were over, but FIFA has been reflecting changes in rankings in real time on its official website since March.
As a result, Japan, which won 1-0 with Junya Ito's goal in Scotland on the 29th, maintained its No. 1 position in Asia, rising from 19th to 18th.
On the other hand, South Korea was completely defeated 0-4 in a warm-up match against Ivory Coast in March at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes, England. As a result, the ranking score was cut by 5.73 points to maintain 22nd place with 1593.71 points. The friendly match is not reflected much in the ranking score, but it was cut by more than five points as it suffered a four-goal defeat.
Iran, which lost 1-2 to Nigeria, dropped one spot from 20th to 21st. Asia's 'top three' remained unchanged in the order of Japan, Iran, and South Korea.
South Korea, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, will play its second warm-up match against Austria in March in Vienna, Austria, at 3:45 a.m. on April 1. This is the first face-off between the two teams' adult national teams. If Korea is defeated again this time, it could fall to the 25th place.
Meanwhile, there was a change in the top five of the FIFA rankings. No. 1 Spain held on to the lead, but France, which was third, pushed Argentina to second place. France defeated fifth-place Brazil 2-1 and 14th-place Colombia 3-1 in a row.
Argentina, which fell to third place, also won against Mauritania, but France, which beat top teams in a row, was ahead in points of acquisition, and the ranking was reversed.
England were held to a 1-1 draw with Uruguay but remained in fourth place, while Portugal, which was previously sixth, jumped to fifth place thanks to Brazil's drop in the rankings. Brazil, which was caught by France, fell two places to seventh place.
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*This content was translated by AI.
