Azkals overtaken by Mongolia in FIFA/AFC Rankings! September 2011

Azkals Update  : FIFA / AFC Rankings

 

Azkals  overtaken by Mongolia in FIFA/AFC Rankings!

Don't look now but Mongolia has silently but methodically overtaken the PHL Azkals in the most recent FIFA/AFC rankings!  

Based on the September 2011 AFC  Zonal rankings, Japan is number 1 (FIFA 15) followed by  number 2 Australia (FIFA 19), rank 3 South Korea (FIFA  29) , number 4 Iran ( FIFA 50 ) and China at number 5 ( FIFA  73)!

Meanwhile , Mongolia has gone up to number 31 in the AFC (ranked joint 163 with India in FIFA ) and  the Philippines down at  number 32 (joint 166 with Maldives in FIFA )!  

Does that mean Mongolia has vastly improved since the draw with the Azkals early this year? I don't think so! If you check Mongolia's recent games, it has not played  much nor won significantly since they beat the Azkals in March and Myanmar last June,  both at home ! Their defeat at Myanmar last July, 0-2 , was their last official game. 

On the other hand, the Azkals' 4-0 July home win over Sri Lanka was a big boost but their  2 losses to higher ranked Kuwait in the important FIFA World Cup Qualifying matches last July and subsequent draws tolled heavily on their rankings.While the  win over Macau in the Long Teng Cup this October  may earn big points for the next evaluation  the loss to higher ranked Singapore, however, certainly  will not help.

Below  are the FIFA/AFC Rankings as of September 2011. Note that newer rankings will be released by mid-October.

							September   2011 Rankings FIFA Rank Zonal. Rnk Team Pts   +/-       Pos 15 1               Japan 924         0       19          2            Australia 882 3 29 3 Korea Republic 749 4 50 4 Iran 576 3 73 5 China PR 469 -4
							163      30               India        106          -5          163     31 Mongolia        106 -3 166     32 Maldives        105 -4 166     33 Philippines        105 -4 168     34 Myanmar          98 0 170     35 Pakistan          92 0