Japan finishes 9th in 2010 World Cup rankings

Here's something I'm sure I'll be hearing about on the news for the next few days.

By virtue of holding off losing for the longest amount of time, Japan finished on top of the teams knocked out in the 2nd round of this year's World Cup to finish 9th overall. The top four followed the matches and were followed by Argentina, Brazil, Ghana and Paraguay. The US was 12th and England was 13th, which has caused much dismay there.

While the Spain/Netherlands shootfight final ended up with the 4th highest rating for a soccer match in the US, it only got an 11.4 for the first half and a 15.4 for the rest of the match which is not surprising since the game started at 3 in the morning and didn't finish until around 6 AM. The Japan/Denmark Group Stage match that was on at the same time got a 30.5/40.9.

A surprising run by Japan that was quite fun to watch. I caught three of the games (Netherlands, Denmark, Paraguay) at a public viewing at the Ginten Plaza with friends.



Links:
CBS with the final ranking list
Asahi article on the ranking
Japanese Wiki article about the Japan matches and the final

Japan vs Paraguay garners a 57.3 rating for TBS

Japan's round of 16 match against Paraguay on June 29th earned TBS a 57.3 rating, making it the 6th highest-rated soccer match of all-time and the 12th highest-rated TV program of all-time.

The ten highest-rated soccer matches are:

Ranking	Match	Date	Channel	Rating
1.	Japan vs. Russia	June 9, 2002	Fuji TV	66.1
2.	Germany vs. Brazil	June 30, 2002	NHK	65.6
3.	Japan vs. Croatia	June 20, 1998	NHK	60.9
4.	Japan vs. Argentina	June 14, 1998	NHK	60.5
5.	Japan vs. Belgium	June 4, 2002	NHK	58.8
6.	Japan vs. Paraguay	June 29, 2010	TBS	57.3
7.	Japan vs. Croatia	June 18, 2006	TV Asahi	52.7
8.	Japan vs. Jamaica	June 26, 1998	NHK	52.3
9.	Japan vs. Australia	June 21, 2006	NHK	49.0
10.	Japan vs. Turkey	June 18, 2002	NHK	48.5

The twenty highest-rated programs of all-time are:

Ranking	Program	Date	Channel	Rating
1.	14th Kohaku Uta Gassen	December 31, 1963	NHK	81.4
2.	Tokyo Olympics	October 23, 1964	NHK	66.8
3.	Japan vs. Russia (Soccer)	June 9, 2002	Fuji TV	66.1
4.	Destroyer vs. Rikidozan (Pro Wrestling)	May 24, 1963	Nihon TV	64.0
5.	Fighting Harada vs. Eder Jofre (Boxing)	May 31, 1966	Fuji TV	63.7
6.	Oshin	November 2, 1983	NHK	62.9
7.	Japan vs. Croatia (Soccer)	June 20, 1998	NHK	60.9
8.	Fighting Harada vs. Alan Radkin (Boxing)	November 30, 1965	Fuji TV	60.4
9.	Tsui ni kaeranakatta Yoshinobu-chan	July 5, 1965	NHK	59.0
10.	Munich Olympics	September 8, 1972	NHK	58.7
11.	Yukutoshikurutoshi	December 31, 1963	NHK	57.4
12.	Japan vs. Paraguay (Soccer)	June 29, 2010	TBS	57.3
13.	Fighting Harada vs. Bernardo Caraballo (Boxing)	July 4, 1967	Fuji TV	57.0
14.	Tabiji	March 9, 1968	NHK	56.9
15.	The Beatles in Japan	July 1, 1966	Nihon TV	56.5
16.	Ohanahan	September 19, 1966	NHK	56.4
17.	Arigatou	December 21, 1972	TBS	56.3
18.	Ashitakoso	January 31, 1969	NHK	55.5
19.	Bolshoi Circus	July 16, 1963	NHK	55.3
19.	Mayuko Hitori	October 5, 1985	NHK	55.3

Yes, I know that some of the soccer matches are not on the all-time list. I don't know why.

Source:
http://www.videor.co.jp/data/ratedata/junre/11soccor.htm
http://www.videor.co.jp/data/ratedata/all50.htm