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FIFA Rankings: USA #5 ?!

aloofman

aloofman

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Dec 17, 2002
2,206
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Don't get me wrong, I'd love for this to be true, but does anyone really believe it?

That the US team is in a virtual tie with Argentina? Better than Spain, France, England, or Italy? Is FIFA just trying to inflate interest in the World Cup here or something?

I'm not outraged, just highly amused. :rolleyes:
 
For whatever mathematical/statistical reason, the US has been over-rated for years. True, they did reach the round of 8 in the last World Cup, but they didn't exactly beat any powerhouses to get there.

On the other hand, it's impressive they qualified ahead of Mexico this time around.
 
Nah... I think it's more a weakness in the FIFA rankings. Norway was as high as #2 some years ago, IIRC, but I don't think that was very realistic... :rolleyes:
 
We've been up there for awhile. Not quite that high, but in the top 10 for quite awhile. ("Quite awhile" is a relative term.) :)

The rankings are based on the last 8 years worth of matches, and, as the U.S. gets rid of matches it played in 1998, where it finished dead last in the World Cup, the number of points they get will only increase, I think.

The U.S. has a good, solid team. We are in a position to improve upon our showing in 2002 this summer.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
I think the US team is often written off unfairly by many outside the US, but we're definitely not #5....
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outside the us? they're even written off inside the us!
 
jhu said:
outside the us? they're even written off inside the us!
Click to expand...

Well, I didn't mention that part, I assumed it. ;)

Actually there is a large fan base for the sport in the US, it's just that the US is a very big nation with other much higher-profile sports.
 
The US national side has a higher ranking than is perhaps appropriate due to the way the rankings are worked out. It's based on results and performances at championships over the past eight years – meaning that sides who put in consistently good performances are highly ranked, but on the other hand the rankings don't accurately reflect changes in form. Having qualified for the World Cup every time since 1990 and having made the quarter-finals at least of the Gold Cup since 2000 (and have won the tournament twice in that time), that's a lot of points racked up. Their qualifying campaign for the World Cup usually sees them getting some good results against not very good sides. This all helps boost the ranking, putting them above teams they're not necessarily better than.

Don't get me wrong, the US national side is pretty decent and could give most teams out there a good match – but I'd definitely rate Spain, France and Portugal ahead of them when it comes to footballing prowess – and dare I say England too :D

Ultimately, it's a flawed system FIFA uses to work out their rankings – for my money, there's only one way to work out who the best teams in the world are, and that'll be taking place this summer in Germany. :cool:
 
I doubt it will happen in the near future, but if the US were to go all the way I think I would hear all of Europe and South America being sick onto the floor in unison...:p
 
Lord Blackadder said:
I doubt it will happen in the near future, but if the US were to go all the way I think I would hear all of Europe and South America being sick onto the floor in unison...:p
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Hahaha...I don't think there's any doubt about that. :)
 
tobefirst said:
They qualified before Mexico, but Mexico still got a top seed...that's an important distinction. :)
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Pretty close, but I guess Mexico was +13 to the US +10.

USA 7-1-2 16 goals for 6 against
Mexico 7-1-2 22 goals for 9 against


tobefirst, you really think the US will do better in this World Cup than they did in the last one? I think the US has only a slim chance of getting out of the group stage. Italy. Czech Republic.
 
I believe they use the BCS computers to calculate these rankings.
 
FIFA rankings are a waste of time.

If Brazil didn't play any competitive games for a year, their ranking would decrease.

Hardly representive, is it?
 
miloblithe said:
Pretty close, but I guess Mexico was +13 to the US +10.

USA 7-1-2 16 goals for 6 against
Mexico 7-1-2 22 goals for 9 against


tobefirst, you really think the US will do better in this World Cup than they did in the last one? I think the US has only a slim chance of getting out of the group stage. Italy. Czech Republic.
Click to expand...

See, that's the thing. I think they might be a better team, but I'd be a fool to deny that there's a very good chance they won't go nearly as far as last time around.

If we finish second in our group, we have to play Brazil in the next round, and Brazil, as good as they were in 2002, is even better now.

Everyone around me has been saying that the U.S. drew into one of the (if not THE) "Group(s) of Death." It's important to remember, however, that part of the reason it's so tough is because we're in it. We have a solid team. I think if we can get ahead early, as the team has been accustomed to do, I don't see any reason why we can't win the group.

...and I don't see any reason why, by the time we get to the Ghana game, we could be booking plane tickets home.

(I'll be the first to admit that I'm a homer...) :)
 
Aren't these done by percentages, though? All they have to do is play Estonia a few times, and the percentage difference is enough to push them up
 
greatdevourer said:
Aren't these done by percentages, though? All they have to do is play Estonia a few times, and the percentage difference is enough to push them up
Click to expand...
EDIT:
But it's only based on the top 7 results from each year, and it takes into account the strength of a team...so a win against Estonia likely wouldn't be on anyone's top 7. :)
 
tobefirst said:
...and I don't see any reason why, by the time we get to the Ghana game, we could be booking plane tickets home.
Click to expand...
Indeed! The FIFA rankings say you're the second best team in that group (second only to the Czech Republic), so if they're right you'll sail through. And Sepp Blatter is Swiss, and they're renowned for their accuracy. :)
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Indeed! The FIFA rankings say you're the second best team in that group (second only to the Czech Republic), so if they're right you'll sail through. And Sepp Blatter is Swiss, and they're renowned for their accuracy. :)
Click to expand...

Who? The Swiss, or the Blatters? :)
 
Although the US football team made great strides over the past decade, they are definately not a top 5 team yet. They probably aren't a top 10 either. The only reason they are ranked so high is because they are in the CONCAF region which except for Mexico is not a really strong region, so basically USA beats up all the time all the weak teams in the region and FIFA rankings as flawed as they are put them that high.

Anyway, I will give USA it's props when they will come out of their group during this years World Cup. Czechs and Italians won't be easy.
 
For what it's worth...here's a comparison of the federations:


Federation
FIFA weight assigned to federation
Teams in top 10
Teams in top 50
Teams in top 100

UEFA
1.00
6
26
41

CONMEBOL
0.99
2
6
9

CAF
0.96
0
8
23

CONCACAF
0.94
2
6
10

AFC
0.93
0
5
17

OFC
0.93
0
0
0

It looks like UEFA could use a little higher weight to their games, and the OFC a little less perhaps. :)
 
Stella said:
FIFA rankings are a waste of time.

If Brazil didn't play any competitive games for a year, their ranking would decrease.

Hardly representive, is it?
Click to expand...

Big time. Anyone who consults these rankings as a barometer of which team is actually better than another will not get the entire story. One example that comes to mind is Brazil playing all second and third team kids on its national team, and losing to a handful of clearly inferior squads.
 
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