"Korea Football Beat Japan" U.S. Media World Cup Power Rankings 16th, 21st Daily

*This content was translated by AI.

The U.S. media forecast that the South Korean national soccer team is the 16th out of 48 countries in the 2026 FIFA North Korea-China U.S. power rankings. It is even more noticeable because it reflects the recent performance of warm-up matches against Ivory Coast and Austria, which is even higher than Japan, which beat Scotland and England.

The Athletic, a U.S. media outlet, updated and released its power ranking after the European-Continental Playoff (PO) ended on the 2nd (Korea time) and all 48 teams qualified for the 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup finals were confirmed. This is a result that reflects not only PO but also the results of the A match warm-up match in March. The media has been constantly updating its power ranking since the draw for the World Cup finals was confirmed in December last year.

South Korea is ranked 16th out of 48 countries. The media said, "If the main players do their part, Korea is the team that is most likely to go the farthest among Asian teams in this tournament," but added, "It's just a assumption. Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) and Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) need to grow one step further to recreate the glory of 2002 when Korea reached the semifinals for the first time in Asia. It is not bad to organize a group that includes Mexico, South Africa, and the Czech Republic, which is considered the weakest among the European PO passing teams.

On the other hand, Japan, which has the highest FIFA ranking (18th) in Asia, ranked 21st in the media power evaluation. Japan's power ranking was evaluated lower than Korea's even though it beat Scotland and England in a recent A-match warm-up match.

Regarding the Japanese national team, the media said, "We achieved an overwhelming performance in the Asian qualifiers and became the first to confirm the advance to the World Cup finals except for the host country," but added, "It has advanced to the World Cup finals for the eighth time in a row, but it has yet to overcome its performance in the round of 16. This time, we have the ability to go higher," he added.

In terms of power ranking of teams in Group A of the World Cup like Korea, Korea was ranked the highest in the order of Mexico (18th), South Africa (37th), and the Czech Republic (39th). The top five in the power rankings were Spain, Argentina, France, Brazil, and the Netherlands, and the lowest ranked team among 48 countries was Haiti.

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*This content was translated by AI.