FIFA Ranking Thread.

[jaffa]

T&T 61, Guat 62, Mexico 6, USA 10
http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/index/0,2548,105913,00.html?articleid=105913

[arrow]

we moved up rank after losses to Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Antigua, USA?  Looks like BSC may have found a winning formula here.

[Kingk]

TrinidadExpress.com

Eight-time Caribbean Cup champions Trinidad and Tobago have regained a clear number two position behind top-rated Jamaica in the latest Caribbean Football Union (CFU) ratings.

After sharing second spot in the March ratings when FIFA had Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba as joint 60th ranked in the world, FIFA's April rankings, released yesterday, showed T&T slipping one place and Cuba four spots.

T&T's Soca Warriors, who held the confederation's third-ranked Costa Rica to a 0-0 draw in their latest CONCACAF World Cup qualifier, are now 61st in the world, and Cuba 64th, while Digicel Caribbean Cup champions Jamaica are rated 42nd on FIFA's list, one place down from their March position.

There are no other positional changes in the CFU's top-ten, with Haiti, 92nd in the world, remaining fourth and St Lucia fifth, at 118th on the FIFA list.

The remainder of the top-ten has St. Kitts and Nevis, 119th in the world, in sixth position, followed by Barbados (122nd) seventh, St. Vincent and the Grenadines (134th) eighth, Grenada (148th) ninth, and Suriname (151st) tenth.

Antigua and Barbuda are just outside the CFU's top-ten with a 155 world-rating.

Reigning CONCACAF Gold Cup champions Mexico are eighth in the world to retain the top position in CONCACAF, ahead of the USA, tenth in the world, Costa Rica (22nd), Jamaica, Honduras (51st) and Guatemala (60th), with Trinidad and Tobago seventh in the confederation.

The Brazilians continue to enjoy a rating of undisputed world number one, with the Czech Republic moving up two places to second, Argentina third and France dropping two places to fourth.

The Netherlands are fifth, followed by England, Spain and Mexico.


CFU Rankings-April

(world rating in

bracket)


1 Jamaica (42)

2 Trinidad & Tobago (61)

3 Cuba (64)

4 Haiti (92)

5 St. Lucia (118)

6 St. Kitts & Nevis (119)

7 Barbados (122)

8 St. Vincent & the Grenadines (134)

9 Grenada (148)

10 Suriname (151)

[Touches]

Good jump for us this month moving to 58th position

With the Gold CUp games and nex WC match we will be in the low 50s, high 40's next month

Also the Asian 4th place teams...................i.e Kuwait, Bahrain, Uzbekistan are ranked close to us. Its a good guage of where we both are at this point in time.


FiFA Rankings

[andre samuel]

nice man, ah like dat! I expecting minimum semi finals in de gold cup...in fact, we should win de damn ting

go warriors

ah love it!!!

[Touches]

TT ent move nowhere......we still at 58.

Panama moves to their best ever placing of 83 up 15

Honduras jumps 11 places to 39

Usa is now better than England.....in position 6 up four places, their best ever showing

Mexico goes up to 5th place.

Fifa Rankings

[futbolfan]

something ain't right here, ah go support meh fellow concacaf teams, but how america rank 6th ahead ah teams like de  french 7,english 8, spanglish 8, pootygal 10, and de azzuri 14. dem frenchies and dem ain't havin ah good summer...fus deh loose out on de olympics then ah yank goin tuh win dey tour de france and now amercia 'supposedley' betta dan dem in futbol....from merci to mercy.
Rank    Team
1    Brazil
2    Argentina
3    Netherlands
4    Czech Republic
5    Mexico
6    USA
7    France
8    England
8    Spain
10    Portugal
11    Germany
12    Turkey
13    Japan
14    Italy
15    Iran
15    Republic of Ireland
17    Sweden
18    Uruguay
19    Denmark
19    Greece

[Jayerson]

Those rankings should not be taken at face value in my opinion, England beat the U.S. just the other in the U.S. and England was much the better team.

[Coop's]

Those rankings should not be taken at face value in my opinion, England beat the U.S. just the other in the U.S. and England was much the better team.

These rankings don't go by who beat who.I can't explain the criteria can someone?may be Observer.

[kicker]

Yeah well we all know that the FIFA ranking system is points-driven, based on games won, championships won etc etc........and doesn't necessarily give a good head to head comparison of the teams...........nevertheless it's a sign of changing/changed times when the U.S. is 6th in the world in football/soccer.....it's a good indication of how far the right mix of discipline, planning, professionalism and financial backing can go......

[jusme]

they have a pretty comprehensive explanation of the ranking procedures here

http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/rank/procedures/0,2540,3,00.html

I didn't want to copy the whole article but this is the overview section

Taken into consideration for the ranking are all international-A match results over a time span of the last eight years:

    * World Cup finals matches
    * World Cup preliminary matches
    * FIFA Confederations Cup matches
    * Continental championship final matches
    * Continental championship preliminary matches
    * Friendly matches

The ranking list is produced by a computer program which assigns a team points for every match, according to clearly defined criteria. The factors taken into consideration are:

   1. Winning, drawing and losing
   2. Number of goals
   3. Home or away match
   4. Importance of the match (multiplication factor)
   5. Regional strength (multiplication factor)

[Coop's]

To me rankings don't mean you are better than anybody,is just at different times certain countries are playing more Football than others so their rateings go up and who not platying stays the same or goes down,nobody talking about the Netherlands how they becoome third?and Germany eleventh.

[slates]

Not meaning to take anything away from the US or mexico for that matter, but if they were in Eurpoe, they wouldn't be 5 & 6. If they played the likes of Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Czech Rep, Portugal etc, on a regular basis, instead of T&T, Costa Rica and Jamaica, their position would be vastly different.

England beat the US without their first-string team.

[sting_pana]

PANAMA 83 ---------> whatch out TT

[arrow]

PANAMA 83 ---------> whatch out TT

It's hard to watch you when you're that high up - might strain our necks.
But congrats on finally passing Burkina Faso!

[Trinimassive]

Not meaning to take anything away from the US or Mexico for that matter, but if they were in Eurpoe, they wouldn't be 5 & 6. If they played the likes of Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Czech Rep, Portugal etc, on a regular basis, instead of T&T, Costa Rica and Jamaica, their position would be vastly different.

England beat the US without their first-string team.

It says a lot that the US and Mexico have ah bunch ah tiny countries (and Canada who barely recoginze the sport)  and does hold they own against European Competition when they meet them.

They would probably be ranked higher if they got that constant tough competition because lets face it...they does take things serious and hate losing. The better competition they play against consistently I could definitely see them being even better than they already are.
They play against countries that playin the game decades now professionally and just start the MLS and look how they advancing.

Give Jack he Jacket.  We could learn a lot from them.

Saying all that we could still pull off ah upset.

[Observer]

Not meaning to take anything away from the US or Mexico for that matter, but if they were in Eurpoe, they wouldn't be 5 & 6. If they played the likes of Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Czech Rep, Portugal etc, on a regular basis, instead of T&T, Costa Rica and Jamaica, their position would be vastly different.

England beat the US without their first-string team.

It says a lot that the US and Mexico have ah bunch ah tiny countries (and Canada who barely recoginze the sport)  and does hold they own against European Competition when they meet them.

They would probably be ranked higher if they got that constant tough competition because lets face it...they does take things serious and hate losing. The better competition they play against consistently I could definitely see them being even better than they already are.
They play against countries that playin the game decades now professionally and just start the MLS and look how they advancing.

Give Jack he Jacket.  We could learn a lot from them.

Saying all that we could still pull off ah upset.

Very good point. Mexico and the USA made strides once they began playing the top European and South American teams on a consistent basis. Mexico got themselves in the Copa America and this did a lot for their progress. gaining experience through these games is essential. Yes teams will get they ass cut at first but say wha soon they will learn, harden and develop.

[UPRISING]

I agree that the region that the US and Mexico is in surely boosts their ranking..if they were in a different region ...different story... but it bunning mih heart to see the US and the Samba in the same league (according to the rankings)...the Samba should never even be in their sights...but ah spade is ah spade ... the US deserves props for their (commitment) to improvement..

SLATES!!!  Wha vibes cuz...we 1 and 1 so far up in Minnesota, bout to go an mash up a team in a lil bit ... quarters tomorrow vs a Costa Rican squad (their goal diff. after 3 games is 24!!!!!!!!!)  blood clawt!!!!

Later..

[Coop's]

I don't know if anyone have an explanation for this,i notice there are no African teams mentioned on that list ,are those countries that bad?

[Feliziano]

I don't know if anyone have an explanation for this,i notice there are no African teams mentioned on that list ,are those countries that bad?

yep

[Touches]

here you go forumites

Look the Ranking Procedure and Explanation


also check the schedule and see when it coming out again.

All the teams who up there have been active and playing games regularly. Mexico has played real ball lately and all the teams who have moved up the ladder have done so due to favourable performances.

If we beat the USA in AUg we will more than leap up the chart.

[spideybuff]

Allyuh men really have such a low opinion of the US still? I hate the States...iI dislike losing to Jamaica plenty but I have real animosity against the US team ...but I recognise that they are a BIG side now. Doh get tie up with the US. France, Italy and them have pedigree and history but they drawing with small sides and playin boring ta-ta football for over a year now, while Spain and Portugal look pretty and only win against small sides but cah beat the big guns. The states is definitely in their class, consistently since the last World Cup. Allyh forget the States beat Germany 3-0 within the past 5 years. How many sides in the world could say they do that in their history?

And incidentally, Holland playing good ball and scoring real goals since van Basten take over, which is why they are 3rd now and Mexico had the longest unbeaten run in the world until that loss to germany in the Confederations Cup, hence their 5th place spot. And like i said before, if mexico beating the best in the world, but the States challenging them for top honours in the region, then the US can't be that much behind Mexico. Ii get real pong when i rate the states in a previous thread..but FIFA backing me...

[Redditch Valiant]

If we beat the USA in AUg we will more than leap up the chart.

Don't you mean WHEN....?? 

[Jayerson]

If we beat the USA in AUg we will more than leap up the chart.

Don't you mean WHEN....?? 

Correct, I like your mentality

[supporter]

Allyuh men really have such a low opinion of the US still? I hate the States...iI dislike losing to Jamaica plenty but I have real animosity against the US team ...but I recognise that they are a BIG side now. Doh get tie up with the US. France, Italy and them have pedigree and history but they drawing with small sides and playin boring ta-ta football for over a year now, while Spain and Portugal look pretty and only win against small sides but cah beat the big guns. The states is definitely in their class, consistently since the last World Cup. Allyh forget the States beat Germany 3-0 within the past 5 years. How many sides in the world could say they do that in their history?

and what big guns have the states beaten?
US is a top 10 side but 6 is too high

[spideybuff]

and what big guns have the states beaten?


Trinidad and Tobago...

[Redditch Valiant]

I see TnT are 58th - above Panama, who are a lousy 83. Where's Stinga???

[Bally]

The FIFA World Rankings are trying their best
Story Tools:    Print   Email 
Robert Burns / Fox Soccer Channel
Posted: 10 days ago   
 Of all the world's major sports, the most popular game on planet earth is the one least burdened by statistics.

Standings
• UEFA
• CONCACAF
• CONMEBOL

McMAHON: WCQ Review
 
But the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) couldn't leave well enough alone and in 1993 it produced the Coca-Cola World Rankings system. Their organization felt the need to categorize the sport at the international level and develop a method to assist in determining seeding for major tournaments.

But do the numbers add up?

Baseball is a numbers fanatic's dream. Cricket? The scoresheet is filled with numbers that only a handful on the planet know what any of them mean. In American football, each and every play is crunched down to yards gained, yards to go to adavance further and some percentage or average to rate the players involved.

But soccer is as basic as it is beautiful. Play for ninety minutes and score a few goals to win the match. At the end of each season, whoever scores the most tallies ends up with a golden boot — simple.

But as the saying goes, you can't please all of the people all of the time, so in 1993, FIFA employed two men, Dr. Markus Lamprecht and Dr. Hanspeter Stamm, to develop a system of ranking the world's national teams.

And that's where the discussion began.

The geniuses at FIFA attempted to place a numerical value on a game that simply isn't about numbers, besides that final score of course. But their hearts were in the right place.

What many people fail to understand about the FIFA World Rankings is that they are weighted on performance over the past eight years and not simply on present form. Regional strength is also factored in (by multiplying the relative strength of each confederation based on — you guessed it — the World Rankings themselves!), along with values for numbers of goals scored, home or away results, and of course the importance of the match itself (a World Cup match is weighted exactly twice as much as a friendly).

The intricacies are mindboggling, perhaps even more baffling than the results they produce, but intricate to say the least.

The FIFA Coca-Cola World Rankings have been debated and disputed since the first day of their inception. The original system was flatly based on a scoring system similar to most club leagues, but this failed to take into consideration such factors as strength of confederation, shootout wins or losses or any other number of criteria which greatly skewed the accuracy of the world standings.

Photo Gallery...
USA vs. England, May 28



 

Slightly better prepared, FIFA went to great lengths in 1999 to rate more accurately the relative strengths of the world's footballing nations and revised the system entirely.

The new and improved world rankings factored in so many different scenarios that the W.O.P.R. computer in War Games would have shut itself down for fear of digital overload.

But this solved the obvious flaws within the rankings, right?

Of course not.

The most recent FIFA World Rankings caused quite a stir as the United States and Mexico ranked ahead of such storied nations as England, France, Italy and Germany. American and English fans quarreled online over the legitimacy of the rankings. How could the U.S. be better than England after England just defeated the U.S. in Chicago no less?

The plain truth of the matter is that they are not. They may be to FIFA's computer program, but not to any rationally thinking soccer pundit.

Soccer, more than anything else, is about passion and emotion, and emotion is something a computer program is sorely lacking.

But at the end of the day, the numbers don't truly represent anything more than an accurate rendering of the criteria established by the programmers themselves. Change a few numbers around in the database and Les Bleus are still on top of the world. Tweak the Fibonacci sequence here or there and England still gets credit for the 1966 World Cup they keep jawing on and on about.

Take the FIFA World Rankings with a grain of salt. It makes for fun banter amongst rivals but nothing to head to Vegas with in order to make an informed bet. For that, one would be better served to simply sit in a packed stadium and feel the hairs on the arm stand on end when the super-sub rifles in the game winner in the 90th minute.

That's something a computer will never feel.


 

[Cowen]

Hmmm ... does this maybe suggest that T&T can be better than the actually rating suggest. Gets you thinking a bit after the geniuses of FIFA.

Or then again ...T&T could actually be worst. .........

[Touches]

I think for the most part the rankings acuurate.........GIVE OR TAKE a handful of teams.Yes there are always exceptions to each rule.

If TT play the teams above us in a home and away leg we go lorse on aggregate. The same goes for the teams below us we should win.

Now they have some exceptions to this rule, as Scotland showed us for example. But generally each team is supposed to be where it is. USA could be a lil lower, between 12-8th spot. But they doe ever get a blowout from anyone and can handle it against the best in the world and be competitive. Mexico show in the confed cup they deserve the place and Panama show why they moving up the rankings.Also it taking time and history into consideration, so no lil johnny come lately could just reach high one time.

Nuttin is perfect even the rankings but I find it giving yuh a good idea of where you are in the overall scheme of things.

Also TT have to remain over 70th position in these rankings in order for our players to secure contracts abroad. Liverpool just had a player turned down as the Country wasn't high up in the rankings.