February FIFA Rankings ~ The USA is 6th.

[El Chuma]

:cool: Here they are, we are 6th now and 13th in Elo rankings. I am satisfied with the new rankings, 1 point behind France.

http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/index/0,2548,All-Feb-2006,00.html

[tino11]

What the hell does it matter. These rankings provide a completely misleading guideline as to a teams ability.

To have the USA ranked above England is just ludicrous. I am a Scotland fan so don't think I have any sympathy towards the English either.

The US may beat England on any given day. But if every team in the world played each other in a league format, the US would finish at least 10 places behind England in my opinion.

[alexdergrosse]

What the hell does it matter. These rankings provide a completely misleading guideline as to a teams ability.

To have the USA ranked above England is just ludicrous. I am a Scotland fan so don't think I have any sympathy towards the English either.

The US may beat England on any given day. But if every team in the world played each other in a league format, the US would finish at least 10 places behind England in my opinion.

Ah, in your opinion? Well, FIFA for some reason doesn't care what your opinion is, and they too, wonder, What the hell does it matter?

Take the rankings for what they're worth, but I don't understand this desire to dismiss the ranking system altogether because it doesn't match your (not you specifically, tino11) opinion. It's a formula, not some guy sitting in a dark room drawing names from a hat. The formula may need to be refined, but not everyone's going to be happy with the results no matter what.

I think it's interesting, and good for US soccer, to see the team move up a spot in both the FIFA and ELO rankings.

[tino11]

Ah, in your opinion? Well, FIFA for some reason doesn't care what your opinion is, and they too, wonder, What the hell does it matter?

Take the rankings for what they're worth, but I don't understand this desire to dismiss the ranking system altogether because it doesn't match your (not you specifically, tino11) opinion. It's a formula, not some guy sitting in a dark room drawing names from a hat. The formula may need to be refined, but not everyone's going to be happy with the results no matter what.

I think it's interesting, and good for US soccer, to see the team move up a spot in both the FIFA and ELO rankings.

How is it good for US soccer though when everyone knows it means nothing?

I agree the formula is flawed because of the confederation system mainly.

Do you agree with the world league idea I put forward, or do you think the US would finish above England in that theoratical scenario?

[bigtoga]

When March comes around, the USA will have probably had more February friendlies than most other top 10 teams. I'm anxious to see how they get tallied. If Ghana can tie Mexico and we beat Guatemala, I wonder if we could somehow break the deadlock at 6th place?

[El Chuma]

I had no idea this post would get people so salty. :rolleyes:

[El Chuma]

When March comes around, the USA will have probably had more February friendlies than most other top 10 teams. I'm anxious to see how they get tallied. If Ghana can tie Mexico and we beat Guatemala, I wonder if we could somehow break the deadlock at 6th place?

Good point, also the mexico south korea game will be important.

[scaryice]

I had no idea this post would get people so salty. :rolleyes:

happens every month

[Bob Morocco]

How is it good for US soccer though when everyone knows it means nothing?

I agree the formula is flawed because of the confederation system mainly.

Do you agree with the world league idea I put forward, or do you think the US would finish above England in that theoratical scenario?

Why are you talking about its meaning? If it has no meaning it would go unnoticed but it doesn't. Why would people constantly bring up something that they believe has no basis in facts? Why do these rankings create so many posts and some press coverage?

[tino11]

Why are you talking about its meaning? If it has no meaning it would go unnoticed but it doesn't. Why would people constantly bring up something that they believe has no basis in facts? Why do these rankings create so many posts and some press coverage?

It gets so many post deicated to it by supporters of teams it artificially inflates. I am not being anti-US here just pointing out the inadequacies in the system. How many times does a Brazilian or England supporter start a thread on the FIFA rankings?

Can you answer my original question (above) or would that invalidate the ranking system, and shoot your argument down?

[afgrijselijkheid]

How is it good for US soccer though when everyone knows it means nothing?

the ranking is garbage, but foreigners must understand that we've never had such a high meaningless ranking before... hence the bit of excitement

beyond that, many US fans are relatively new to the sport, and i'm all for whatever gets them excited about the team

[appoo]

happens every month


is it that time of the month again?

[goussoccer]

What the hell does it matter. These rankings provide a completely misleading guideline as to a teams ability.

To have the USA ranked above England is just ludicrous. I am a Scotland fan so don't think I have any sympathy towards the English either.

The US may beat England on any given day. But if every team in the world played each other in a league format, the US would finish at least 10 places behind England in my opinion.

While I don't think it ludicrous to think we could rank above England, I agree in general that England could be considered a better team than the US. I DO find it ludicrous that you think we would finish 10 places behind England in a league format. Being kind, I would place England about 5th, assuming four of Brazil, Argentina, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Germany, Holland and Portugal would finish above England....exactly which other seven teams would fit in between the US and England?

BTW...after this World Cup, I hope you find the teams that would place above the US in the list I gave above, smaller by at least two!! Which I don't think is really all that ludicrous to think.

[FirstStar]

Do you agree with the world league idea I put forward, or do you think the US would finish above England in that theoratical scenario?

I'm glad to see that these rankings are doing EXACTLY what FIFA wants them to do-- get all of us talking about Int'l (as opposed to club) soccer.

Anyway, I think that England is a more talented squad than the US, but I think the US would do very well in a "world league". We play so few matches with our best players together b/c of the split continents on which they play. Also, the US team has always been more about teamwork and the whole being greater than the sum of its parts-- playing together consistently would benefit us more than many other teams.

The scary thought, though, is how good Brazil would be if their A team played together on a consistent basis. Wow.

[Zeppelin]

Why is it that the US is ranked so high ? not that i dissagree or un-happy but it's a little questionable, isn't it ? we are higher than england, portugal, Italy, Germany etc .....but, it feels great:D

[ECRedSoxFan]

Ah Fifa rankings, the "red tide" of big soccer. They come around every month and get most people in a crappy mood.

[Rodan]

The thing that irks me is that the only possible advantage to these half-baked ratings is that they might have helped the US get seeded for the World Cup.

They didn't.

So I find them worse than ridiculous - even a little embarassing.

Just my opinion...

[tino11]

While I don't think it ludicrous to think we could rank above England, I agree in general that England could be considered a better team than the US. I DO find it ludicrous that you think we would finish 10 places behind England in a league format. Being kind, I would place England about 5th, assuming four of Brazil, Argentina, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Germany, Holland and Portugal would finish above England....exactly which other seven teams would fit in between the US and England?

BTW...after this World Cup, I hope you find the teams that would place above the US in the list I gave above, smaller by at least two!! Which I don't think is really all that ludicrous to think.

Spain
France
Ukraine
Switzerland
Turkey
Croatia
Sweeden

Possible

Rep. Ireland
Mexico

I really only considered Europe an the Americas. I am not up on African and Asian football really.

[Zeppelin]

If the US stays at this rank until the next WC, it might as well be seeded.

[Sportman77]

Still ashame that the Mexicans are tied with us. They know we beat them silly.