This Wednesday, FIFA will announce its first ever official World Ranking for women national teams. This ranking will influence the picks for the four top-seeded teams for each group for the Final Draw for the FIFA Women’s World Cup USA 2003 taking place this Thursday, July 17. FIFA Women’s World Cup USA 2003 Finalists are: AFC (4): China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea CAF (2): Ghana, Nigeria CONCACAF (2.5): Canada, USA CONMEBOL (2): Argentina, Brazil OFC (1): Australia UEFA (5): France, Germany, Norway, Russia, Sweden Ankhman's Top-10 Women's World Ranking are: 1. USA 2. Norway 3. China 4. Germany 5. North Korea 6. Sweden 7. Canada 8. Brazil 9. Russia 10. Nigeria My picks for the 4 top-seeded teams for World Cup 2003 are USA, Norway, China, and Germany. Germany can easily be replace by North Korea, but hardly anyone have seen them play outside of North Korea is the reason why I did not pick them as fourth. How that team's players operate is a real mystery. As a side note: DEATH to any top seed that gets either North Korea or Canada in their group; DOUBLE DEATH if that seed gets both of them. Now it is your turn. Have fun.
My top 10: 1. US 2. Germany 3. China 4. Canada 5. North Korea 6. Norway 7. Brazil 8. Sweden 9. France 10. Nigeria 4 seeds - US, China, Norway, Germany. Germany is my pick to win it all. Although, I'll be rooting for the US all the way.
1. United States -- full-time league competition gives Yanks the advantage 2. Germany -- of all the big Europen football countries, Germany has taken the women's game most seriously 3. Brazil -- limitless talent 4. China -- awkward transition period for Steel Roses 5. Norway -- not getting worse, but everyone else is catching up and even passing (see, e.g., Euro 2001) 6. North Korea -- rising fast 7. Nigeria -- speed, skill, strength, but lack organization 8. Canada -- Hooper and Sinclair a super striking duo 9. Sweden -- see Norway 10. Ghana -- nearly the equal of Nigeria in the last two African Championships
well, here's my subjective list based on my gleamings of the female game.... 1) germany 2) norway 3) USA 4) China 5) Sweden 6) North Korea 7) Brazil 8) France 9) Canada 10) Nigeria
1. USA 2. Germany 3. China 4. Brazil 5. Norway 6. Sweden 7. Canada 8. Australia 9. France 10. Nigeria
It's unclear whether the ranking referred to in FIFA's news release is in reference to top 4 seeds, seeds of the 16 competitors, or some kind of world-wide Coca-Cola ranking. It's also unclear what affect ift will have on Thursday's draw. Assuming that the biggest factor will continue to be past WWC performance, I predict (first four will be seedings, if not in Coca-Cola rankings): 1. USA, of course placed in Group A already 2. China, Group D 3. Norway, Group B 4. Germany (or Brazil), Group C 5. Brazil (or Germany) 6. Canada (no way Canada makes top 4, unless its to make sure they play in Colombus, but there are other ways to do this) 7. Sweden 8. Nigeria 9. North Korea (don't read too much into defeat of China) 10. Russia (not as good as France, but they were Group leaders). 11. France 12. Australia (although, I think this is low in reality) 13. South Korea 14. Japan 15. Argentina 16. Ghana If there are other rankings, expect England, Mexico, Denmark and Finland to round out the top 20, maybe Costa Rica and Iceland close. In terms of Pots (if they use them) to draw with seeds, I predict it'll be: Pot A: Sweden, Russia, France, Canada (Canada can't play US) Pot B: Brazil, Argentina, Nigeria, Ghana Pot C: N Korea, S Korea, Japan (Australia to play China) Of course, they may just make Pots on basis of rankings, with the caveat that no Confederation meets another except for one group with two Euros.
My guess, in terms of strength come September/October: 1 USA 2 North Korea 3 Canada 4 Norway 5 Sweden 6 China 7 Germany 8 Brazil 9 Australia 10 France Seeding is another story.
My top ten 1. USA 2. Norway 3. China 4. North Korea 5. Brazil 6. Canada 7. Germany 8. Australia 9. Japan 10. Sweden
"of all the big Europen football countries, Germany has taken the women's game most seriously" I would have said that for Sweden and Norway.
based on the current performance, Sweden is a very very good team right now, i'll pick Sweden over these two teams as a team that can be a threat to any seeded teams...they are very strong phisically and mentaly and full of skills as well, i watched them preparing themself for this WC on a program show called " Western Union Football " on the FoxSportsWorld channel recently..
I'd agree Sweden is coming in quietly, but last wc they came in injured... I've got them rated 5th, ahead of north korea and brazil... brazil had some very good moments yesterday, and Marta looks real good... USA looked much better with Milbrett up top, really threatened the Brazil defense... macMillan is a huge loss..I have USA 3rd on my list, largely due to her absence... why does Brazil insist on having their sweeper play so deeply, so disconnected from the rest of the back-line... whatever the top 10 turns out to be...any of the top 10 can play fairly evenly with one another... 1999 did have the China shellacking of Norway... but those matches occur... Colombia beat Argentina by 5 goals in Buenos Aires during 1998 WCQ... so instances do happen, but on the whole the 2003 WC will be competitive and entertaining soccer.. and there should be a couple upsets too.
I wrote: To which Dennis responded: Norway and Sweden have indeed taken the women's game more seriously, but I don't count them among the big European football countries. My whole point in talking about the big countries was to limit the comparison to the likes of Germany, Italy, Spain, France, England, and the Netherlands. Those are the countries with the top leagues on the men's side, which is where the big money comes in. So those are the countries whose federations should have the most money to put into national football teams. These are also the most populous of the highly economically developed countries in Europe, which is another way of saying that they have a large population base, and thus a large pool of talent, to go with their financial wherewithal. This is why these countries are the perennial European contenders in the World Cup (for men, that is). It is also why they all SHOULD be perennial contenders for the Women's World Cup. My point was that among these countries only Germany has made good on that potential.
Yes. At first I thought you meant women's soccer. But then I knew you mean men's soccer and then I was going to say "Did Germany have the World Cup before Sweden"? Anyway, Sweden does count for total organization. Less so with Norway for the men's popularity. However, I would add France to alongside of Germany. Few coaches provide such good training for players and for coaches in the world. That's why there are probably more French coaches of National teams in the world than any other Nationality. Well, hopefully, the regionalization of Spain will increase the interest in women's soccer. The Basque region has certainly shown an interest and let's hope that continues. The Dutch have a solid interest. Games have decent attendances and it will increase in popularity and the teams will get better.
1.US 2.Germany 3.Norway 4.China 5.Brazil 6.Sweden 7.N Korea 8.France 9.Canada 10.Australia Nothing new really. Though France and Canada could switch places. If Brazil had better competition in their confed and was invited to Algarve and China Cup, we could see them move past Norway. But, Norway's counterattack seems based on natural ability and less on coaching.
The female game is little beyond infancy in most of the world... even where it's played elitely, it's barely in puberty... so, there's room for tons of growth in the female game prior to it reaches some sort of stability... the degree one nation nurtures the development of the game, gives advantage over others... still each nation has a variation of performance, a curve which defines how they can compete on any given day... on average the curve for germany would predict a better result than sweden's curve... however, the gap is not enormous, ans sweden is NOT an automatic loser to germany... in the male game, you go 50 nations deep, and you'll see competitve matches... the female game has less depth...and if you want a specific number, maybe the range is 15-20... afterwards theres a significant drop in competition... on the whole, the movement will be towards greater depth in the female game... this time around, the WWC quarters should be highly compeitive with matches in doubt until the 75th minute...
can't say I know much about women's football, but this is what I can say: 1. S.Korea should be around 15~20th in the world. More like 20th. I'm not too sure as to exactly how many women's national teams are actually active. There are only 2 women's adult teams in the entire nation of S.Korea. I'd say qualifying to the WC itself was a miracle. 2. N.Korea is a team to watch. Definately. They're good, and young. They need to gain experience though.
Those rankings are mine, real page can be found at http://home.sprynet.com/~ronkessler/rankings.htm I am updating the site tonight, per my current rankings the top 10 are: 1. USA 2. Norway 3. Germany 4. China 5. Sweden 6. N Korea 7. Brazil 8. France 9. Canada 10. Denmark S Korea are still 20th.
I've given it a lot of thought and I've decided to come up with a list of the top 30 teams in Europe: 1. Norway 2. Germany 3. Sweden 4. France 5. Russia 6. Denmark 7. England. 8. Iceland. 9. Italy 10. Switzerland 11. Scotland 12. Finland 13. Spain 14. Netherlands 15. Ukraine 16. Portugal 17. Belgium 18. Czech Republic 19. Serbia & Montenegro 20. Republic of Ireland 21. Poland 22. Hungary 23. Croatia 24. Austria 25. Slovakia 26. Belarus 27. Romania 28. Israel 29. Wales 30. Greece The country that has shown the most improvement over the last couple of years or so has been Spain. They beat Russia and Iceland in World Cup Qualification. They also beat the Netherlands in Euro 2005 Qualification. They have been on the cusp of European women's soccer glory for quite a while now. They did draw Sweden in qualification for Euro 97. Just the right encouragement and investment would push them over the top. The Dutch are another team to watch out for. They have played quite decently as well. Giving up only 2 goals to the Norwegians back in May for example. World Top 30 1. USA 2. Norway 3. China 4. Germany 5. Brazil 6. North Korea (Sorry. The difference is experience) 7. Sweden 8. Canada 9. Australia 10. Nigeria 11. France 12. South Korea 13. Russia 14. Japan 15. Ghana 16. Denmark 17. Mexico 18. Argentina (I hope they do well but I don't think they would have beaten Denmark nor Mexico) 19. England 20. Iceland 21. New Zealand 22. Italy 23. Cameroon 24.Taiwan 25. South Africa 26. Switzerland 27. Scotland 28. Colombia 29. Costa Rica 30. Finland Honorable Mention(in order): Spain, Netherlands, Zimbabwe(0-0 with Cameroon, 3-1 with South Africa, not bad at all. 5th best team in Africa and one to look for in the future.), and Guam for nearly causing one of the biggest upsets in women's soccer history this past June against Taiwan. They lost the game in the 69th minute 2-1 but scored in the 7th minute to take the lead) One final note: The Kiwis will be giving the Aussies a run for their money in the near future. They had not played too many internationals in awhile but they did quite honorably against their antipodean neighbors in April. They have a young side and one that will be keen to relive some past achievements like qualifying for another World Cup and beating the Matildas once again.
one of the problems is ever getting to see female teams play...... outside the top 10, has the average fan seen any of them play... who's even seen France play... to me, Brazil losing pretihna is a big loss, same with macmillan... I personally prefer having forwards with mobility and skill, because they are so rare... prethinha's loss makes brazil less dangerous..same for mac... against brazil wagner didn't play as well as she will need to in the wwc....actually until milbrett came on, usa attack was way too boring and predictable. big question is whom to pair with milbrett... personally, I'd move hamm forward..it would give the usa more a threat ...especially against the more elite defenses to be seen one the elimination phas commences... whacking the ball long for wambach to win in the box isn't my style of game
From Fifa: FIFA Women’s World Ranking "...In addition, the FIFA Women’s World Ranking (published four times a year) will provide women's football with an objective yardstick for measuring the sporting performance of a steadily expanding number of national teams. FIFA has gone to great lengths to establish a women’s football database so that reliable statistics can now be evaluated. With the help of the international sports information provider Infostrada Sports, more than 3,000 international matches dating back to 1971 up to the end of June 2003 (approximately 50% friendlies) have been taken into account."
well, if they use thge same algorithm as they use for mens football, there's a huge bias in the algorithm.... those who get to play the more highly ranked sides will get an arbitrarily higher ranking.... those with the fortune or luxury of playing good sides more frequently benefit... that's the nature of GIGO
Can we say "bean counter"? So it won't count the Great Danish team of the Coppa del Mondo of 1970 who beat Italy, the world champions in the final? Unofficial or not, this was an important victory for the Danes and lead them to greater glory in 1971 when they beat the Mexicans in front of 110.000 in Mexico City. They won the final with a hat trick from 15 year old Susanne Augustesen. Well, I'm sure the Danes won't complain. They should be in the top 20.
FIFA calculations aren't really all that bad... if strength of schedule was the same for every nation, then it'd be quite good... but that's where the fault lies... publish the results with a 95% confidence interval, and we'd see little statistical differnce with the top 4.... the problem is the sheer lack of number of matches input...this makes the intervals enormous.