Originally Posted by
Pearcey3
We have been in the top 20 on merit. You don’t fluke results for 7 years.
There also needs to be some context here.
Scotland are currently ranked 40 and moving upwards. In their entire history they haven’t reached the knocked out stages of a single major tournament. We did that in successive Euro tournaments.
Context also applies in where and when we played Iran. The game was played on the hottest day of the tournament in the middle of the afternoon in a stadium of mainly Iranian supporters. How would that game have panned out on a cold, wet and windy afternoon in Ireland in front of mainly Welsh supporters? I think it would have been very different. Football is played throughout the year.
We have massively overachieved. How many countries with smaller populations have achieved what we have? The emphasis is on the word “smaller” here and not similar or slightly greater.
We are now likely to drop down the rankings as our best players retire. There is no shame in that. This has been a golden period for Welsh football with so many highs. There are now likely to be plenty of lows but we are used to that. However we will still have some highs and need to enjoy them when they occur.