Uuuh. Maybe China considers Japan a rival, but Japan wouldn’t consider China at all. If an actual world-class team like Japan has a rival, it would be Korea. Both teams obviously well above China in rankings.
You could consider Australia a rival, but honestly the two countries and the fans love each other too much.
The UK doesn’t compete in international football, the constituent countries of it do. Although of them, only England is even occasionally able to challenge Germany
I honestly can’t think of a way to rephrase “we invented international football” to fit the “no skins” original, so this acknowledgement of the reference will have to do instead
No. But they are at a decent level. And they are around the same level as Japan and South Korea. And all three of them are significantly above China in the sport.
Yeah. Japan’s usually going to be number 1 in Asia, but we all go for whoever of those three teams is still in and usually two of them are in the WC. China’s just insignificant. I think even NZ is higher than them and they’re a low-population nation obsessed with rugby.
Japan are not world-class. They’re a solid team, but despite being ranked in the top 20 they’re probably still considered weaker than many of the teams below them.
With that said, I always have a soft spot for countries that push players that play domestic football outside of Europe and in their own country. I’ve been on a Japan kick since Yu Hirakawa joined Bristol City on loan.
Uuuh. Maybe China considers Japan a rival, but Japan wouldn’t consider China at all. If an actual world-class team like Japan has a rival, it would be Korea. Both teams obviously well above China in rankings.
You could consider Australia a rival, but honestly the two countries and the fans love each other too much.
Similar with the UK and Germany. The UK considers Germany their big rival. Germany considers the UK… a team.
The UK doesn’t compete in international football, the constituent countries of it do. Although of them, only England is even occasionally able to challenge Germany
Sorry, you’re right. I meant England. vs. Germany.
“Gee, UK, why do you get so many teams?”
I honestly can’t think of a way to rephrase “we invented international football” to fit the “no skins” original, so this acknowledgement of the reference will have to do instead
Aus is world class for soccer?
No. But they are at a decent level. And they are around the same level as Japan and South Korea. And all three of them are significantly above China in the sport.
Yeah. Japan’s usually going to be number 1 in Asia, but we all go for whoever of those three teams is still in and usually two of them are in the WC. China’s just insignificant. I think even NZ is higher than them and they’re a low-population nation obsessed with rugby.
Japan are not world-class. They’re a solid team, but despite being ranked in the top 20 they’re probably still considered weaker than many of the teams below them.
With that said, I always have a soft spot for countries that push players that play domestic football outside of Europe and in their own country. I’ve been on a Japan kick since Yu Hirakawa joined Bristol City on loan.