Iran Qualify For World Cup Final's

South Korea, Japan, Australia, Holland, Italy, Germany – and – Iran have all qualified via their continental group for the World Cup set to be held in Brazil next year. Unsurprisingly, this is the first time that the Iranian’s have managed to achieve such an achievement for a fairly unknown football nation. At 48th in FIFA’s much discussed ranking system, they stand tall above Egypt, Turkey, Wales, Republic Of Ireland and South Korea even (so they surely can’t be as bad as we’re all thinking they are). In mid-2005 they were (theoretically) the 15th best football national team in the world according to the same rankings.

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FIFA World Rankings Update - The Talking Points

Are the rankings more accurate than we think?

Much is made of the validity of the rankings so it is probably firstly worth asking if you would expect the leading eight teams to form World Cup quarter finalists – if a tournament were to be played right now.

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Is it time for World Cup pre-qualification?

England's 8-0 destruction of San Marino last weekend has once again raised the question of whether certain countries within the current World Cup Qualification setup in Europe should be allowed to compete at the highest level of international football.

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