Rank Team +/-Rank

Mar 06 Pts:

Apr 06 +/-Pts:

Mar 06

1 Brazil 0 830 -5

2 Czech Republic 0 779 -10

3 Netherlands 0 774 -14

4 USA 1 760 -4

5 Spain 1 759 -4

6 Mexico 1 758 -4

7 France 1 754 -6

8 Portugal 2 753 -2

8 Argentina -4 753 -12

10 England -1 744 -12

11 Denmark 3 738 2

12 Nigeria 0 737 -1

13 Turkey -2 733 -10

14 Italy -2 731 -7

15 Cameroon 0 723 -3

 

USA #4 w00t w00t This suprised me, but very happy. Doesn't mean we have a cakewalk though. Have both #2 and #14 in our group. Horray!

Edited April 19, 200620 yr by Sonik22

USA #4??? Wow. That is quite a stretch. Italy is far too low and Cameroon is a very underestimated team. Not sure about Denmark being that high either. Don't know much about them though. Top 3 are definitely the right countries. As I see it, the top 10 are:

 

Brazil

Czech Republic

Netherlands

Italy

Spain

Portugal

Mexico

USA

Argentina

France

Brazil

Czech Republic

Netherlands

Italy

Spain

Portugal

Mexico

USA

Argentina

France

 

Mexico? USA?, but no England..

 

Take no notice of the world rankings - Believe me, they are crap.

4 is high ranked suprises me.

That's utterly ridiculous.

How the hell does FIFA come up with these?

Their rankings definitely never make sense. I don't think the US can beat several of those teams.

Their rankings definitely never make sense. I don't think the US can beat several of those teams.

To put this into context, Australia defeated Jamaica 5-0 in a friendly in England late last year, while you guys drew with them 1-1.

 

No way you're better than Argentina, Italy, France and England.

FIFA rankings have never made sense.

To put this into context, Australia defeated Jamaica 5-0 in a friendly in England late last year, while you guys drew with them 1-1.

 

No way you're better than Argentina, Italy, France and England.

Serbia won their preliminary group over Spain but they get ranked 48th while Spain get's ranked 5th? The REAL rankings should be:

 

1.) Australia

2,) Serbia

3.) Azerbeijan

4.) Asia

5.) South America

 

Serbia won their preliminary group over Spain but they get ranked 48th while Spain get's ranked 5th? The REAL rankings should be:

 

1.) Australia

2,) Serbia

3.) Azerbeijan

4.) Asia

5.) South America

 

Hey SoxFan1 can you tell me a little about Nikola Zigic (I think he's Serbian). He almost signed for West Ham a few months back, and I think he's the tallest striker in the world or something. Look out for this guy at the World Cup, you can't miss him.

Hey SoxFan1 can you tell me a little about Nikola Zigic (I think he's Serbian). He almost signed for West Ham a few months back, and I think he's the tallest striker in the world or something. Look out for this guy at the World Cup, you can't miss him. 

He doesn't get much playing time for the national team because we are set with strikers. With Kezman (Atl. Madrid), Milosevic (Osasuna), Vucinic (Lecce), and Ljuboja (somewhere in Europe ). Zigic has raw talent but the guy can score. Period. Back in January, just about every single club in Europe was after him but he has until June to decide whether or not to stay in Crvena Zvezda (Red Star) Beograd. He'll be a force for whoever he signs. He scored 50+ goals in 2 seasons with Red Star and they are saying he is the next star striker to come. He scored some big goals for Serbia in the preliminaries but I doubt he will help much in the World Cup unless one of Kezman or Milosevic just get garbage all of the sudden. He's a fun player to watch. He reminds me a lot of Zlatan Ibrahimovic but a bit bulkier.

6  Mexico 1      758  -4

 

Rank Team +/-Rank

Mar 06  Pts:

Apr 06  +/-Pts:

Mar 06 

1  Brazil 0      830  -5

2  Czech Republic 0      779  -10

3  Netherlands 0      774  -14

4  USA 1      760  -4

5  Spain 1      759  -4

6  Mexico 1      758  -4

7  France 1      754  -6

8  Portugal 2      753  -2

8  Argentina -4      753  -12

10  England -1      744  -12

11  Denmark 3      738  2

12  Nigeria 0      737  -1

13  Turkey -2      733  -10

14  Italy -2      731  -7

15  Cameroon 0      723  -3

 

USA #4 w00t w00t  This suprised me, but very happy.  Doesn't mean we have a cakewalk though.  Have both #2 and #14 in our group.  Horray! 

 

 

These are based on a few years of overall competition and should be taken lightly. I believe we should be ahead of Mexico due to beating their asses in the last WC and pretty much handlng them when we play them. But Spain, France, England, Argentina, and Italy should be ahead of us.

 

The key to this world cup is keeping EJ and McBride healthy and up front as the strike team and making sure that Donovan doesnt disappear like a little b**** because its real competition.

 

Hopefully Spector and Gooch will get a shot to make this team. Arena gets goofy sometimes with older more experienced players and I have a feeling his old DC United connection will play more than what we need for the final players for the WC. Like Eddie Pope, he needs to help train the team, but not be on the team.

We have a tough grouping but damn it I'm going to be pulling for our team. I will be watching every USA world cup game just as I did 4 years ago.

As to how the FIFA rankings work, they take the last eight years worth of match results (so the main reason the USA has gone up from 8/9 to 4/5 now is that they've spent most of the last two years beating the crap out of El Salvador, Trinidad and Panama in World Cup qualifiers). Also, for all those folks who complain about the US ranking (true, they aren't the fourth best team in the world, but it's not worth giving two s***s about the Fifa rankings), the US might even go higher soon because their crappy WC98 results are about to be tossed out.

 

The matches are weighted based on time and importance (for instance a WC qualifier in 2005 is going to mean more than a friendly in 1999). Yes, friendlies count too, but not very much. Matches are weighted in this order...

 

1. World Cup

2. Confederation Cup (yes, no one cares about this tournament but it is very important to these rankings)

3. Continental championships

4. World Cup or Continental tourn. qualifiers

5. Friendlies

 

The rankings are a farce for two main reasons (I'm sure there are many more, but these are the two I know about)

1. USA and Mexico artifically benefit because these two teams always dominate everyone in CONCACAF. The always exciting Gold Cup actually counts just as much as EUROs, and since the US and Mexico dominate that as well as WCQ matches, both nations rack up tons of points no matter what each year.

2. European teams, while most of them do deserve to be ranked highly, play 95% of their matches against other European teams mainly because of all the WC and Euro qualifying.

So, they cyclically keep one another's rankings high. Elite UEFA teams never can fall very far because when they lose, they lose to at least decently ranked teams, and mid-to-low UEFA teams stay ranked fairly high because when they do happen to win, they always go substantially up in the rankings.

 

In the end, USA/Mexico and Europe should have no beef about the rankings, African and Asian (and South America if you're not Brazil or Argentina) teams are the ones who have the toughest time moving up the rankings. Luckily, the only actual thing the FIFA rankings impact is determining the eight top seeds for the World Cup. Other than that, they are as trivial as they deserve to be.

 

Anybody pick up the new Fifa World Cup '06 that cmae out yesterday?? I picked it up for 360, and am loving it.... such a big upgrade from "Road to the World Cup '06"

 

 

btw, USA is ranked #12 in the game.