Re: Ireland v Australia, Aug 12, Limerick: Friendly [R] I wouldn't put us at 14 but I would struggle to list 14 teams that are "definately better" than us. (ATM - Spain, Italy, Holland, England, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, ?? Maybe Russia or France - but not "Definately" IMO). At the same time I think there would be at least 30-40 teams left if I took out all those that we are "definately better" than. Case in point is Ireland, we beat them and we move to 14 whereas they still languish in the 30's - whereas in truth we would be very even teams. You could almost throw a blanket over every team ranked between about 10 and 50 and not many would have much difference in quality.
Re: Ireland v Australia, Aug 12, Limerick: Friendly [R] France and Russia would shit all over us in a competitive match. We're good at friendlies but that's because no one gives a shit about them but us.
Re: Ireland v Australia, Aug 12, Limerick: Friendly [R] I'd be more scared of Russia than France ATM, but neither are at the level of the first 7 I mentioned. People wrote us off against Croatia as well remember. Even if you include them that's only 9 teams. Not saying we are better than all of the others, but I don't think we should shy away from being regarded as a good team. It seems that if you're not from Europe or Sth America it's always questioned when you get a high ranking. Why do we deserve 14th any less than the likes of Switzerland, Czech Republic, Serbia, Greece - even Croatia at 9th.
Re: Ireland v Australia, Aug 12, Limerick: Friendly [R] No need to be an apologist. We've got to this ranking because we've been winning. What's the point of playing games and winning them if you're not going to see anything from it? We'll see in the World Cup in less than a year whether we deserve it or not- but until then, why not enjoy the fact we're a top ranked side!
Re: Ireland v Australia, Aug 12, Limerick: Friendly [R] France? they may be playing poorly but one look at the list of current french internationals shows they are a long, long way ahead. This is a country that made it to the final of the WC 3 years ago. Russia, they are the dark horses of Europe ATM. Many of their players are in the Russian prem so its difficult to gauge how good they really are in terms of players. They would most surely give us a run for their money especially with Guus at the helm. I'm happy for people who actually care that were ranked 14th, i just find it funny that the same squad that sat around 35-50 since the 2006 world cup is now in the top 20. It's ridiculous.
Re: Ireland v Australia, Aug 12, Limerick: Friendly [R] Not really. The rankings arent based on potential ability or talent, they are based on form. Basing the rankings on ability would be ridiculous.
Re: Ireland v Australia, Aug 12, Limerick: Friendly [R] Why are people so perplexed on what other people think of us? Who gives a flying fuck if they think we are the "new" USA. Go and see a psychiatrist if you have issues about what other people think about us. As long as keep winning that's all that matters.
Re: Ireland v Australia, Aug 12, Limerick: Friendly [R] The rankings aren't decided by how many international stars a team has, but by how they are playing - and as you said they are playing poorly. Giving us a run for our money would equate to being fairly close wouldn't it, which is the point I was making. Actually if you look at how the rankings are worked out it makes sense. 4 years ago we still hadn't played Uruguay and were still in Oceania and basically didn't play enough to get a high ranking, now we are just getting to the point where rankings wise we can forget the dark days and actually have games to spare in determining our ranking. We are not playing any better (necessarilly) than 4 years ago but we are playing more often - especially against higher ranked teams - and therefor our ranking is showing this.
Australia has been rewarded with its highest-ever FIFA ranking following its fantastic form this year. The Socceroos are now ranked No.14 in the world after FIFA released its revised standings on Wednesday. Pim Verbeek's men have lost only one match from eight appearances in 2009 which came against Kuwait in a 2011 Asian Cup qualification match back in March. That result aside, the Socceroos have claimed wins over Japan, Uzbekistan and Bahrain in World Cup qualifiers and the Republic of Ireland in a friendly last month. Australia also drew with Japan and Qatar in 2010 World Cup qualification matches as well as Indonesia in an Asian Cup qualifier. The Socceroos will next face South Korea on Saturday night in Seoul. The top four ranked sides remain unchanged with Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany leading the way. Italy moved one spot up from fifth to join Germany in equal fourth. --------------------------------------------- As much as it may upset some people, Aust are up to 14th in the Rankings as of yesterday.
Re: Ireland v Australia, Aug 12, Limerick: Friendly [R] I read it somewhere but for the life of me- I can't find the link, but we're going to drop to number 26 in the rankings in October after the South Korea result.
Re: Ireland v Australia, Aug 12, Limerick: Friendly [R] It was probably on one of the SBS blogs, ECE. I read the same thing earlier too.
Re: Ireland v Australia, Aug 12, Limerick: Friendly [R] That's if you lose against the Netherlands and win against Oman.
I wonder how we'd go if we win against the Netherlands and Oman? Or win against the Netherlands and lose against Oman?
I actually thought that ACQ's received equal weighting to WCQ's. I could be wrong................ask Edgar???
For this kind of question, you just have to look at these two posts: FIFA Ranking: October 2009 preview (IV) FIFA Ranking: October 2009 probable ranking (III) Winning both matches - 839 points, good for 21st place. Yes, they have equal weighting.
Re: Australia > France Wow. France took a beating like a redheaded stepchild. I guess that's what happens when you bomb out so miserably when defending points from making the final in 2006. Some big changes. It's also been a long time since Brazil was outside the top 2, Italy was outside the top 10 and Mexico was outside the top 20. And Egypt at number 9... crazy that those guys haven't made a World Cup in aeons. Imagine where they would be after a good WC run.