Further proof that FIFA rankings are crap

[Alphabet Man]

I don't like it:

-Guinea didnt qualify and moved up about 25 spots

-Nigeria doesnt move and didnt qualify

-Socceroos had the toughest qualifying path and performed very well, and went up 9 (along the way we beat Greece, drew Holland, beat Japan, and took the game up to Brazil and Italy)

-Uraguay went up and they got beat by us in qualifying.

-Japan and Korea went down about 30 each of them

-Australia has been in the Asian confederation 7months, 13days and we are already first in Asia

[Breakwood]

I don't like it:

-Socceroos had the toughest qualifying path and performed very well, and went up 9 (along the way we beat Greece, drew Holland, beat Japan, and took the game up to Brazil and Italy)

Now I agree the rankings are , but you can't tell me that Australia had the hardest qualifying path. They beat the Solomon Islands and the 5th placed team in South America.

[Alphabet Man]

I don't like it:

-Socceroos had the toughest qualifying path and performed very well, and went up 9 (along the way we beat Greece, drew Holland, beat Japan, and took the game up to Brazil and Italy)

Now I agree the rankings are , but you can't tell me that Australia had the hardest qualifying path. They beat the Solomon Islands and the 5th placed team in South America.

im mroe reffering to the Uruguay qualifiers, they are one of the toughest teams in the world that we held well aginst in Uruguay and then a few days later beat them here. THere was a 3 day break and its a 22hr plane trip in between. It is a tough qualifying path. Now NZL will blitz the OFC and struggle against the South Americans. South America is a tough confederation

[ninersdd]

Why is Germany behind Portugal even though they embarrassed them in that last match

[Stampman]

No, it doesn't. I wish people who are ignroant of the game would stay the effin hell out of soccer threads. You dont like the game, we got it. Now go away.

The reason Brazil is ranked #1 is because they are the best team in the world. If they played Italy ten times, they'd beat them 6 if not 8 of those times.

The World Cup is a single-elimination tournament. The winner isnt nessesarily the best team in the world, they are just the team that won the world cup.

And the US is now ranked about right. They'd beat most all the teams behind them, and would have trouble beating all the teams above them. Thats an accurate ranking.

Hmm, I kind of said the same thing--the rankings are overall, not based on one game or one tournament.

Just like in the NHL, NFL, CFL MLB.

A team can finish first overall and lose the championship--so while they are not the champions in some sense they were a better team.

[VitaminD]

Why is Germany behind Portugal even though they embarrassed them in that last match

You haven't been reading this thread very carefully, it would seem...

The rankings are a reflection of each nation's body of work over the PAST 4 YEARS. While Germany did in fact beat Portugal in the 3rd place game, that's one discrete event. The rankings are reflective of something bigger than any single game - they rank the overall quality of the teams beyond their win-loss records. Germany beat Portugal once, but let them play 50 times; who wins more often? Luck evens out as the series of events being contested extends to infinity; what is left is the superiority of talent on one side. That said, the rankings indicate that if Portugal and Germany played an infinite number of teams, Portugal would win more often than not... because they are the better team, as shown by the rankings.

Is this concept really that hard to wrap your mind around? Let's try another way. The Kansas City Royals are the worst team, by record, in MLB. They are 24 1/2 games behind the Chicago White Sox, one of the best teams in MLB. Head-to-head, the Royals have won 3 of the 9 times they've played the White Sox this year. Who's the better team? By your logic, the Royals must have been better at some point, because they beat the White Sox. By common sense, the White Sox are the better team.

Take it further: the Royals are winless against the Orioles this year, in 3 games. Are the Orioles better than the White Sox? After all, they haven't lost to the worst team in the league yet, but the White Sox have - 3 TIMES! Again, common sense would say the Sox are better, as the Orioles are 9 games below .500 for the season.