In the latest FIFA rankings the USA earned its highest ranking ever- 6th, ahead of soccer powerhouses such as France, England , Portugal , Spain, Germany, and Italy way down in 14th.
The fact that Mexico moved into fifth totally ruined any joy in the new news for me. Despite having beaten Mexico on several occasions (including a 2-0 victory in the world cup), the US has never been ranked higher than their bitter rivals. Maybe if the US can manage a Gold Cup championship (combined with Mexico's early exit) it will finally happen
FIFA has a whole procedure with points being awarded for matches in accordance with the opponents ranking.
Suffice it to say the process is horribly complicated, I read through it once on FIFA's web site and had a headache for a week.
One thing most people agree on- the process gives equal stature to all qualifying groups, therefore inflating the ratings of countries from CONCACAF and Africa.
so there not intirely based on whose the better team, because if one team have a bad day, and say they were 3rd, and lose to a team that was 25th, that team would go down the rankings, even though they were much better on paper ...
Yep. The rankings are about how the teams have performed recently, not opinions about who has the better team. So if somebody like Sri Lanka manages to beat Brazil expect them to move up the next months rankings like a skyrocket
Friendly match x 1.00
Continental championship preliminary x 1.50
World Cup preliminary match x 1.50
Continental championship finals match x 1.75
FIFA Confederations Cup match x 1.75
World Cup finals match x 2.00
I believe that would be a continental finals match- so yes
To tell the truth I'm supprised England are that high on the list. I would put them just outside the top ten.
Mind you that due to my disslike of Sven Goran Eriksson as England coach and the fact that he plays almost everyone of the same loosing players from the last World Cup and European Cup in any competitive match.
"there's only one way to win a war: shout, shout, and shout again!" - The Duke of Wellington ((Blackadder - Stephen Fry))
07-20-2005 10:21 PM
