U.S. is seventh in FIFA rankings

[rassel]

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) -- The United States advanced to an all-time high No. 7 in FIFA's rankings Wednesday while Greece jumped 21 spots to No. 14 after its dazzling run to the European Championship title.

Brazil remained No. 1 for the 25th straight month, and France and Spain stayed at second and third.

The United States twice had climbed as high as eighth -- in September 2002 and again in May. The Americans beat Grenada in a home-and-home series in June to reach the semifinals of World Cup qualifying in its region of North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Greece was ranked as low as 59th as recently as March 2002. It climbed ``possibly the greatest ever number of places in the upper reaches of the ranking,'' soccer's governing body said.

Its 1-0 victory over Portugal on Sunday in the Euro 2004 final gave Greece its first major title.

The rankings are a computer calculation of the relative strength of national teams based on results the previous eight years.

The Czech Republic, which lost to Greece in the Euro 2004 semifinals, advanced seven spots to fourth. Germany, which did not win a game at Euro 2004, dropped to 12th, tied with Portugal.

The Netherlands, which reached the Euro semis, remained fifth while Mexico dropped two places to sixth.

England, beaten by Portugal in the Euro quarters, returned to the top 10 after a two-month absence. The English moved up five places to eighth and were followed by Italy and Turkey.

Argentina, which had gone winless in three games before a 2-1 victory over Peru on July 1, dropped six places to 11th.

[cricketfan]

Spain's third rank is the biggest surprise of all because they are paper tigers who have never achieved anything concrete in football. How they managed to stay 3rd despite getting eliminated in the group stage itself in Euro 2004 is a mystery.

[Edited on 7-7-2004 by cricketfan]

[rassel]

how many times they lost since mars 24, 2001? Not many. they have played 36 international (include both friendly + major competition) 3 times in 36 matches or so! now, that’s quite a record! So, don't think they don't belong in the top ten.




Matches Database (FIFA): ESP

20-JUN-04 LISBON (Portugal) Spain vs. Portugal 0:1 (0:0)

16-JUN-04 PORTO (Portugal) Greece vs. Spain 1:1 (0:1)

12-JUN-04 FARO-LOULE (Portugal) Spain vs. Russia 1:0 (0:0)

05-JUN-04 GETAFE (Spain) Spain vs. Andorra 4:0 (2:0)

28-APR-04 GENOA (Italy) Italy vs. Spain 1:1 (0:0)

31-MARS-04 GIJON (Spain) Spain vs. Denmark 2:0 (1:0)

18-FEB-04 BARCELONA (Spain) Spain vs. Peru 2:1 (2:1)

19-NOV-03 OSLO (Norway) Norway vs. Spain 0:3 (0:1)

15-NOV-03 VALENCIA (Spain) Spain vs. Norway 2:1 (1:1)

11-OCT-03 YEREVAN (Armenia) Armenia vs. Spain 0:4 (0:1)

10-SEP-03 ELCHE (Spain) Spain vs. Ukraine 2:1 (0:0)

06-SEP-03 LISBON (Portugal) Portugal vs. Spain 0:3 (0:1)

11-JUN-03 BELFAST (Northern Ireland) Northern Ireland vs. Spain 0:0

07-JUN-03 ZARAGOZA (Spain) Spain vs. Greece 0:1 (0:1)

30-APR-03 MADRID (Spain) Spain vs. Ecuador 4:0 (3:0)

02-APR-03 LEON (ESP) (Spain) Spain vs. Armenia 3:0 (0:0)

29-MARS-03 KYIV (Ukraine) Ukraine vs. Spain 2:2 (1:0)

12-FEB-03 PALMA DE MALLORCA (Spain) Spain vs. Germany 3:1 (1:1)

20-NOV-02 GRANADA (Spain) Spain vs. Bulgaria 1:0 (1:0)

16-OCT-02 LOGRONO (Spain) Spain vs. Paraguay 0:0

12-OCT-02 ALBACETE (Spain) Spain vs. Northern Ireland 3:0 (1:0)

07-SEP-02 ATHENS (Greece) Greece vs. Spain 0:2 (0:1)

21-AUG-02 BUDAPEST (Hungary) Hungary vs. Spain 1:1 (0:0)

22-JUN-02 GWANGJU (Korea Republic) Spain vs. Korea Republic 0:0 a.e.t (0:0) 3:5 PSO

16-JUN-02 SUWON (Korea Republic) Spain vs. Ireland Republic 1:1 a.e.t (1:1, 1:0) 3:2 PSO

12-JUN-02 DAEJEON (Korea Republic) South Africa vs. Spain 2:3 (1:2)

07-JUN-02 JEONJU (Korea Republic) Spain vs. Paraguay 3:1 (0:1)

02-JUN-02 GWANGJU (Korea Republic) Spain vs. Slovenia 3:1 (1:0)

17-APR-02 BELFAST (Northern Ireland) Northern Ireland vs. Spain 0:5 (0:1)

27-MARS-02 ROTTERDAM (Netherlands) Netherlands vs. Spain 1:0 (1:0)

13-FEB-02 BARCELONA (Spain) Spain vs. Portugal 1:1 (1:1)

14-NOV-01 HUELVA (Spain) Spain vs. Mexico 1:0 (0:0)

05-SEP-01 VADUZ (Liechtenstein) Liechtenstein vs. Spain 0:2 (0:1)

01-SEP-01 VALENCIA (Spain) Spain vs. Austria 4:0 (1:0)

06-JUN-01 TEL AVIV (Israel) Israel vs. Spain 1:1 (1:0)

02-JUN-01 OVIEDO (Spain) Spain vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina 4:1 (1:1)

25-APR-01 CORDOBA (Spain) Spain vs. Japan 1:0 (0:0)

28-MARS-01 BARCELONA (Spain) Spain vs. France 2:1 (1:0)

24-MARS-01 ALICANTE (Spain) Spain vs. Liechtenstein 5:0 (2:0










[Edited on 8-7-2004 by rassel]

[cricketfan]

Spain does well in friendlies and in qualifying matches. In proper tournaments such as world cup or Euro Cup, they do not finish any better than in the 8th position. They are a top 10 nation no doubt, but finding them at no. 3 is a travesty. A team ranking 3 in world should be able to reach semifinals in World cup and Euro cup. But they are perennial underachievers.

[rassel]

In this ranking system all matches count whether it’s friendlies or not. Nevertheless, in a major tournament if a country wins a match they get more points toward their ranking than friendly match does.

“A team ranking 3 in world should be able to reach semifinals in World cup and Euro cup”

From your theory, Greece should be # 2 behind Brazil: how come they are not even in the top ten?

[cricketfan]

According to my theory, winners should rise in ranking and losers should fall down in ranking. This seems to apply to all teams who participated in Euro Cup except Spain and France. Greece the winner climbed to 14 th position from 35th. Germany who could not win any match fell to 12th. Perhaps France and Spain had accumulated so many points that poor performance in Euro Cup did not cost them too many points. France has won World Cup and Euro Cup in the past. No one grudges them their second position. But the case of spain is similar to some tennis players who stay in top ten without doing anything at the big stage viz. Major tournaments.

[rassel]

“According to my theory, winners should rise in ranking and losers should fall down in ranking”.

It’s obvious. you don’t have to be rocket scientist to figure it out. The question is how many games. Recently in EURO Spain played 3 games: win 1 lost 1 drawn one. From that picture: like your theory says loser should fall down, but where is the points for the game that they have won & drawn.


As far as their performance concern in major competition; they usually perform good except some bad luck always lurking around them.

For example, in the last world cup in the group stages: they pretty much decimated every country. They went on to beat Ireland in the round of sixteen. Then unfortunately, they lost to the host country in the shootout who happens to be Korea. You know, how tough they were in the last world cup.

Anyway, this ranking system works and acknowledged by all FIFA associate countries. I might be wrong, but I have never seen anybody complaining about the system.

If you still have misconception about the FIFA ranking procedure: check the below link. Tell me what is wrong with the system.

http://fifa.com./en/mens/statistics/...2540,3,00.html

[Bangla Mostan]

Whats also disturbing was USA had FIFA ranking points of 666 at one stage....well I'm not implying anything here but that number is quite significant..in many ways..its up to you people to figure out the significance.

[rassel]

Originally posted by Bangla Mostan
Whats also disturbing was USA had FIFA ranking points of 666 at one stage....well I'm not implying anything here but that number is quite significant..in many ways..its up to you people to figure out the significance.

is it kindea like this?


[Edited on 5-8-2004 by rassel]

[Bangla Mostan]

umm its looks kinda like it..but he's teeth are more sharper than that...otherwise i'd say thats a copycat..

[rassel]

Originally posted by Bangla Mostan
umm its looks kinda like it..but he's teeth are more sharper than that...otherwise i'd say thats a copycat..

yes you're right. way too nice

[Bangla Mostan]

Originally posted by rassel

yes you're right. way too nice

lol..your right..he's too nice..lol

[Habibul_bashar]

Can someone tell me where is Bangladesh in FIFA rankings?

[rassel]

Rank Team Pts:
Aug 04 Rank: Jul 04 Change since
Jul 04 Rank: Dec 03 Change since
Dec 03
141 Maldives 315 140 -1 141 0
142 India 313 143 1 127 -15
143 Sri Lanka 312 140 -3 135 -8
144 Kazakhstan 309 144 0 136 -8
145 Hong Kong 306 145 0 142 -3
146 Gambia 297 146 0 138 -8
147 Surinam 292 147 0 158 11
148 Myanmar 288 147 -1 140 -8
149 Andorra 285 149 0 147 -2
150 Namibia 281 149 -1 144 -6
151 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 272 153 2 169 18
152 Burundi 271 151 -1 145 -7
153 Sierra Leone 270 152 -1 146 -7
154 Liechtenstein 268 153 -1 148 -6
155 Chinese Taipei 266 155 0 150 -5
156 Kyrgyzstan 263 156 0 157 1
157 Luxembourg 251 157 0 153 -4
158 Bangladesh 248 157 -1 151 -7
159 Chad 240 159 0 152 -7
160 Nicaragua 238 160 0 173 13
Rank Team Pts:
Aug 04 Rank: Jul 04 Change since
Jul 04 Rank: Dec 03 Change since
Dec 03

FIFA Ranking



[Edited on 6-8-2004 by rassel]

[Habibul_bashar]

Now bangladesh in 158 on FIFA rankings.
Thanks rassel.

[Bangla Mostan]

Bangladesh do not have any stamina..that is why they play poorly in the second half of every international game....they cannot handle it at all..they can contain a team in the first half..then have a collapse in the second..sounds like a similar sport,.,,....collapse.....hmmmm