After its stellar performance in the World Cup, Team Korea is expected to see its world ranking soar to as high as 15th. South Korea is currently ranked 40th. South Korea has seen its soccer ranking slide since December 19-98 when it was ranked 17th. As for reasons for the expectation, soccer experts cite a precedent set by Croatia, whose ranking moved up by 20 notches after its third place finish in the 19-98 France World Cup. South Korea defeated Poland and Portugal and tied with the United States in the Group D first round and beat out European powerhouses Italy and Spain in the second and third rounds before losing one to zero to Germany in the semi-final.