England 4 Wales 38

FIFA Rankings.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18703497

England's position is farcical.

1. Spain 2. Germany 3. Uruguay 4. England 5. Portugal 6. Italy 7. Argentina 8. Netherlands 9. Croatia 10. Denmark 11. Brazil 12. Greece 13. Russia 14. France 15. Chile 16. Ivory Coast 17. Sweden 18. Czech Republic 19. Mexico 20. Japan

FIFA have had a

Also how are Brazil 11th???

G-ster wrote:1. Spain 2. Germany 3. Uruguay 4. England 5. Portugal 6. Italy 7. Argentina 8. Netherlands 9. Croatia 10. Denmark 11. Brazil 12. Greece 13. Russia 14. France 15. Chile 16. Ivory Coast 17. Sweden 18. Czech Republic 19. Mexico 20. Japan

FIFA have had a

Also how are Brazil 11th???

Denmark better than Brazil? Someone's having a laugh. Surely Wales could give Japan a good game?

T

Even as en Englishman, I can't argue it's ridiculous we were 4th in the rankings. Brazil would tear us apart, Italy were unlucky to not beat us in normal time, and that's just two stand out examples.

But what you have to look at is results. Qualifying for Euro 2012 England W 5 D 3 L 0, they then lost in a friendly before winning their next 2 and then were unbeaten (until penalties) in the Euro's, so they have actually had a pretty good run of late.


Everyone knows that they aren't the 4th best team in the world, but there needs to be a system based on results, rather than the fact they play awful football and can't string more than 5 passes together.

I've always thought the system should be more appreciative of WHO you beat, not how often. Teams like Wales are critiscised constantly for losing to top ten teams and have a low ranking because of that, when I reckon they are much better than many of the teams around them. England, for context, regularly fall on their face when faced with any of the teams takes around them, but have good records due to always playing the poor teams.

England may have passed through qualifying undefeated but really, their opponents were Bulgaria, Montenegro, Switzerland and Wales.

My abbreviated point is, beating San Marino should not have the same impact as beating Spain. And likewise the ranking difference, the more impressive the win and the more it should be recognised.

Brazil have dropped out of the top ten for the first time since they started the rankings. The BBC website says this is because "have played less top-level matches in 2012 than some of the other leading nations". FEWER, damn you, FEWER! It's this sort of sloppy reporting that has brought this country to its knees! (not literally, you understand)

The rankings are supposed to reflect both the quality of the opposition and the importance of the matches. Given that England haven't made it past the quarter-finals in anything since 1996, it does seem bizarre that they can be fourth in the list.

This is a very accurate way of determining results because if you look down the list you will see that I am the 237 the best ranked nation in the world, above Lilliput but below Narnia.