Due out tomorrow Wed 8/14/02. Here: http://www.fifa.com/rank/index_E.html Predictions: -Brazil stays on top (obviously). -Germany could eclipse France, Spain, and Argentina but then again this is the FIFA rankings. -Should be interesting to see how far Portugal's slide continues. -Does Italy drop out of the top 10? -Does the US crack the top 10? -Why is Columbia still in the top 10? I still don't know why FIFA tracks games from 8 years ago in their formula. Players, coaches and results from 8 years ago are not that relavant to a teams current potential. Discuss...
US joint 9th with Italy England joint 7th with Portugal Spain take 3rd place, Argentina take 2nd and France drop to 4th. 1) Brazil 2) Argentina 3) Spain 4) France 5) Germany 6) Mexico =7) England =7) Portugal =9) Italy =9) US 11) Turkey
I think the FIFA rankings are b.s. anyway. Looking at the past 8 years.... who really thinks that Spain, Mexico, USA or Turkey are better then for instance Holland? Apart from that... what's the big deal about being number 1 or number 20 on the list? It won't get you anything.
Holland beat Spain in a friendly before the WC. It might not mean anything since it's just a friendly. Turkey has a nice team, but Holland is definitely better. Spain, same story... Spain has never been stronger than Holland for the last 14 years.
Considering these rankings help determine seeds for the next World Cup, I'd say they mean a hell of a lot. That doesn't mean they aren't flawed, though. Could someone resurrect the "can the US be seeded next World Cup" discussion? Wondering if the US jump to 9th means anything. Thanks.
Hey, at least Columbia is out of the top ten. They didn't even play in the World Cup. Columbia's first ranking after the World Cup was probably the biggest joke.
Why? They played outstanding in the Copa America without letting in a goal,that's a perfect stat. And they had bad luck in the South American qualifiers.
How did this happen?? NewZealand ranked 83rd dec 01, 88th july 02, and 47th in Aug 02 in just 1 month? What did New Zealand do last month?
NZ won the OFC nations cup, beating australia in the final, and continetal championships have the 2nd highest value after the world cup, and each confederation is weighted differently, with the OFC having the lowest weight
I agree that Sweden's ranking [20] is not deserved. I am proud of the Turkish teams slow climb to the ranks of the elite, but Sweden does have a better head to head record against all of England, Turkey AND Argentina in the last 12 months. Now only if they hadn't lost to Senegal ...
How is the Netherlands better than Spain and Turkey? They lost to Ireland and Portugal when it counted. Those two teams weren't better than Spain an Turkey in the WC.
How can Mexico USA and Portugal be ahead of TURKIYE. What kind of a ranking is this. Which Portugese team had the UEFA cup. When did these teams become third in the world cup. Come on lets be real.
(PORTUGAL CAME 3RD IN 1966, 3RD IN EURO 2000 AND IF IM NOT mistaken beat turkey 2-0 and SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE THOUGH) hope that answers ur question.oh and benfica won the uefa cup twice and lost 3 times in the finals.......sporting won once and porto won once............... But what amazes me is how mexico and USA is ahead ooof turkey...........even through what i just said ,thats...................wrong
Benfica got those cups before we were born in 60s this list is the actual list which depends on the recent years. Yeah they played the semi game for Euro cup but we just played a world semi a month ago. If Brazil is ahead of France then we should be ahead of Portugal.
