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Completely bat5hit nuts. I hate it when they do this. We may be better than many in Europe or South America think we are; but we're not this good. And absurd rankings like this just fuel the "overrated" backlash we get from Europe/S.A. when we lose a match.
Relax. Everyone knows the rankings are a joke, that's why I was making fun of it with the thread title.
What's the over-under on how long it takes some bozo from the Trib to point out our performance in the friendly against England before comparing FIFA rankings to the BCS? Actually, that would mean they care. Never mind.
Can't understand why this is such a problem... Don't we deserve our bit of undeserved respect just like everyone else? We need it. It's part of what builds confidence and mystique around us. Don't try so hard to "keep it real." It affects your ability to change your reality.
Why such an outcry? These rankings bode well in getting a favorable seeding for next year's World Cup.
It's a mathematical formula. Odd things happen sometimes. Most people realize this, so it's all good. It may help us get a seed at WC 2006 if we keep it up however.
But they were also ranked high the year they didn't qualify for the WC Finals in 2002. And where was Greece in the rankings when they won Euro 2004? Europeans are not bothered by these rankings at all. They think they are a farce. So long as the US team is in the top 10 having beaten no European squads apart from Poland in years - why should they care?
Might shock them a bit if US gets the seed in the WC. . . and when Mexico gets it (as they're basically a lock).
the fifa ranking are made by a computer. same as league points really , you have to look at the teams the usa compete aginst all year.. and the fact that they have had tounaments during the summer (germany , brazil , usa) most of europes WC qualifiers are still to come , and they didnt get to compete in confed or gold cup etc. put it this way... bookies have england as third favorite , and brazil argies as first and second ... you want real rankins done by real people you should go to the bookies. Brazil 7/2 Argentina 5/1 England 7/1 Germany 7/1 Italy 7/1 Holland 10/1 Spain 10/1 France 16/1 Portugal 16/1 Czech Republic 18/1 Sweden 25/1 Croatia 50/1 Ukraine 50/1 Mexico 66/1 Paraguay 66/1 Republic of Ireland 66/1 Colombia 80/1 USA 80/1 Greece 100/1
well, that's just because UEFA qualifying is, in fact, also harder than the World Cup. The rankings are well-nigh perfect.
Well, if you're going to go there, I disagree pretty strongly with a couple of these. Germany should be equal with Brazil. They're hosting after all. And bookies should know that minor fact. And I have a hard time believing the US isn't rated equal with Mexico. Move it any way you want to, and I wouldn't quibble quite as much. But I'd lean toward putting us up at 66/1. As regards to the FIFA rankings, I'm ignoring it as a momentary blip caused by the current international schedule. The ranking that really matters is in November, and at that point a lot of the European teams will have played a few more important qualifiers. That should bring things more in line with people's sensitive sensibilities.
The way the group stages/play-in games are set up - I thought qualifying was about "equa-difficult" for both. Okay, here is your chain of logic: 1) UEFA Qualies are harder than World Cup (arguable). 2) Within two years: Greece, Holland and Czech Republic (not only qualify, but) are three of the best four teams in Europe - and - 3) Greece, Holland and Czech Republic were not good enough to qualify for the World Cup in 2002. Please tell me how this computes!!! Aren't you trying to have it both ways here? The FIFA Ratings are skewed, because they weight regional tournaments in weaker confederations (such as CONCACAF) to highly in comparison to regional tournaments in stronger confederations (such as UEFA). The fact that teams in Europe beat each other up should not necessarily discount them relative to teams in other confederations. Because if they are playing and losing to stronger teams than the US is beating on a regular basis - they are penalized. There may be 20 European teams that could play the same international schedule as the USMNT and achieve better results. But they don't get that opportunity. I don't think the computer rankings are able to compensate for the differences in quality of opponent. It is too subjective in soccer to validate. Thankfully, international soccer is a tournament/cup-based phenomenon so we don't have to worry about how accurate the rankings are. Teams that are better than the USMNT: Argentina Brazil France Holland England Czech Republic (when is the last time that we have beat any of these teams? Brazil in '99 I think - since then we have lost to Argentina, Holland and England. We would lose more than we won (or tied) if we played any of these teams head-to-head) Teams that are equivalent (or slightly better) than the USMNT Germany Spain Italy Mexico Sweden South Korea (the only team from this list that we have beaten - and then only occasionally is Mexico. Germany has beat us. South Korea has played with us. The other teams would beat us at least as often as we beat them head-to-head). Teams that are very close to the level of the USMNT Denmark Cameroon Nigeria Japan Australia Turkey Portugal Switzerland Norway Finland Russia (We would win many games against these teams and lose a fair number of games against these teams when we played them head-to-head). I think realistically that the US is in the 16 - 20 range of the best teams in international soccer. I think we overachieved a bit in Japorea (and our draw actually worked to our advantage) and that we rather underachieved in France '98. I think that our true quality lies somewhere in between the peak (2002) and the Valley (1998). On a good day, we can beat the teams in group 2 and we can frequently beat the teams in group 3. But only on our best day when everything goes our way can we beat the teams in group 1. And yet we are likely to be ranked within the top 5 if we beat Hondurus and Colombia/Panama in the Gold Cup. That is why I don't give 2 flips for the FIFA rankings. And I will be very pleased if we can make the Quarterfinals of the World Cup finals in 2006. I think that would be a great achievement for our squad. I would only be disappointed if we didn't make it to the round of 16. Not that I am not going to cheer for us to go all the way.
We also beat crappy squads sent by Denmark and Wales. But Poland is the last European team that we beat in Europe since donkey years ago (Germany in '99 or something IIRC). We still have a lot to prove (as does Mexico) when it comes to playing European squads in Europe.
This must be a sinister plan by al Qaeda to kill our democracy. "Bin Laden strikes again: Yanks ranked #6 in the world as part of vast terrorist conspiracy to ruin football squad through opinion" Give me a break, I had to run with that one