purpleronnie Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19177783 England up to third in Fifa world rankings England have risen to their best ever position in the Fifa world rankings. Roy Hodgson's side have moved to third above Uruguay, whose 2011 Copa America victory has lost value in Fifa's system used to determine rankings. Wales moved up one place into 37th, Scotland arrested their slide from the last rankings to reach 46th, while Northern Ireland went up one to 101st. The Republic of Ireland, who lost all three group matches at Euro 2012, stayed in 26th. Drawing a blank There are four teams in the Fifa world rankings who have not registered a ranking point: Bhutan, Montserrat, San Marino and Turks & Caicos Islands. England progressed to the knockout stage of Euro 2012 after they topped their group, but were unable to end their 16-year wait to reach the last four of a major competition as they lost on penalties to Italy at the quarter-final stage. The Fifa world rankings are compiled every month, with ranking points accumulated according to results, the importance of the matches played and the strength of opposing teams. World and European champions Spain have retained a comfortable lead at the top ahead of Euro 2012 semi-finalists Germany. Five-times world champions Brazil, who do not have to qualify for the 2014 World Cup as hosts, continued their fall and have reached a record low of 13th. The decline is due to the fact that they have played fewer top-level matches in 2012 than some of the other leading nations, and despite reaching the final at London 2012, their ranking will not receive a major boost in September as the Olympics is not a points-scoring competition. Fifa world rankings - top 20 1. Spain 2. Germany 3. England 4. Uruguay 5. Portugal 6. Italy 7. Argentina 8. Netherlands 9. Croatia 10. Denmark 11. Russia 12. Greece 13. Brazil 14. France 15. Chile 16. Ivory Coast 17. Sweden 18. Mexico 19. Czech Republic 20. Ecuador Selected others: 26. Republic of Ireland 37. Wales 46. Scotland 101. Northern Ireland
marko Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 Roy Hodgson must have given Sepp some good sexual gratification!!!
glenny_fox Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 If we are third, the other teams must be FOOKIN sh1te.
1884Fox Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 Erm... how is this possible? It doesn't feel right calling England 3rd best in the world...
MC Prussian Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 Erm... how is this possible? It doesn't feel right calling England 3rd best in the world... Better enjoy it while it still lasts.
Heart-Shaped Fox Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 Laughable, how are we 3rd when Holland are 8th? I do think we should be above Holland. They had an awful Euros.
Guest MattP Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 Laughable, how are we 3rd when Holland are 8th? I find us three places ahead of Italy even more of a joke when a month or so ago they completely outplayed us off a pitch for 120 minutes. How we are above Uruguay who have been to World Cup Semis, won the Copa America and played the Argies off the pitch twice in the last 12 months is ridiculous.
Dan Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 They probably do it as a comeback for whenever we (rightly) accuse them of being biased against us. Unbelievable. It's more comedy nowadays anyway I don't think anyone actually takes them at all seriously.
AdamN Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 I find us three places ahead of Italy even more of a joke when a month or so ago they completely outplayed us off a pitch for 120 minutes. How we are above Uruguay who have been to World Cup Semis, won the Copa America and played the Argies off the pitch twice in the last 12 months is ridiculous. Because world ranking, and indeed football in general, doesn't go on 'playing someone off the pitch'. If they were then Swansea would be in the Champions League this season. The hard, solid fact is, we drew Italy after 120 minutes, and only managed to beat us in the lottery of a penalty shootout. I suppose you could say the fact they reached the final should bump them up a few places, but then they were thumped 4-0, so I can't imagine that did their standing a world of good.
EcclesallOwl Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 Not long 'til we're number 1! Just have to fail to qualify for the world cup and we'll be there...
Guest MattP Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 Because world ranking, and indeed football in general, doesn't go on 'playing someone off the pitch'. If they were then Swansea would be in the Champions League this season. The hard, solid fact is, we drew Italy after 120 minutes, and only managed to beat us in the lottery of a penalty shootout. I suppose you could say the fact they reached the final should bump them up a few places, but then they were thumped 4-0, so I can't imagine that did their standing a world of good. Yep, I suppose it's better to get played off the pitch in the quarters than get hammered by the World Champions in the final.
AdamN Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 Yep, I suppose it's better to get played off the pitch in the quarters than get hammered by the World Champions in the final. That's not what I said, but ok.
Guest ttfn Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 I presume they don't count penalties in this. On that basis, our record since we lost to Germany at the start of the 2002 world cup qualifiers in 2000 is: Played 72 Won 50 Drawn 14 Lost 8 (or near enough, I may have miscounted). Playing devil's advocate here, but clearly we're very hard to beat, and have been for some time.
Corky Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 Yep, I suppose it's better to get played off the pitch in the quarters than get hammered by the World Champions in the final. But in the record books it doesn't show "getting played off the pitch", it shows a 0-0 draw with a loss on penalties. Which is a better result than a 4-0 defeat in terms of stats.
Guest MattP Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 But in the record books it doesn't show "getting played off the pitch", it shows a 0-0 draw with a loss on penalties. Which is a better result than a 4-0 defeat in terms of stats. Yeah I realise that, the fact the stats are based on upto 5 years ago shows how daft it is.
Fox92 Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany were all above us at the European Championships so we shouldn't be above them for starts. I then doubt we are better than the likes of Argentina and Brazil. These rankings will continue to be pointless untill somebody makes them more accurate.
Corky Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 Yeah I realise that, the fact the stats are based on upto 5 years ago shows how daft it is. It is a bit, but that's the way they work. We're good at friendlies and qualifiers which are the most regularly played games.
Brainy Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 Good to see people STILL don't understand how these rankings work
Webbo Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 We're ranked on a points based system and we have more points than the teams below us. What's the the big deal?
Daggers Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 Good to see people STILL don't understand how these rankings work Have you been to Leicester to see a game yet?
AyewJoking Posted 8 August 2012 Posted 8 August 2012 Ludicrous these rankings may be but if they give us a better chance of qualifying for tournaments then I'm all for them!
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