12/22/24
July 03, 2002
The New FIFA Ranking After The World Cup:: Brazil is back on top; France and Argentina tie at number 2; Turkey, England and the U.S. are up; Colombia, Portugal and Italy go down... but how well does the FIFA ranking reflect the actual playing quality of the national teams? It looks kind of skewed to me.
posted by Miguel Cardoso to soccer at 12:05 PM - 8 comments
You can also chart the rankings (1993-2002) of up to four countries. I charted the US, England, Senegal (my faves of the tourney) and Afghanistan. The latter's result was silently sad.
posted by worldcup2002 at 02:36 PM on July 03, 2002
After reading FIFA's ranking procedures, I find it best not to think about how they're ranked at all. Yikers.
posted by chules at 02:45 PM on July 03, 2002
I forgot to add this to my initial comments after the final match; the overwhelming Jesus praising by the Brazilians, and in English no less, seemed like a Catholic payback to the heretic Protestants from Germany. Lucio [no. 3] (and also Belletti [no. 13] and Junior [no. 16]) wore a t-shirt that read "Jesus *heart* You." Kaka [no. 23] wore a t-shirt that read "I belong to Jesus." Then there were all those people writing "100% Jesus" on the jerseys of everyone from Cafu on. There also were t-shirts that said "I pledge to Jesus." With 100% Jesus on their side, no wonder Brazil is Number One in the FIFA ranking. Might I add, the non-Jesus-loving countries couldn’t even break it into the top 10. While not "100% Jesus," when USA rose 13 spots through the ranking this past year, I should point out, that all that progression came when this mighty nation was united "under God." Now that Americans no longer pledge to be "under God," I think it is safe to say that USA's position in the ranking had peaked. It will only go down. But of course, I kid.
posted by tamim at 05:54 PM on July 03, 2002
(Baby Jesus cries)
posted by Samsonov14 at 06:25 PM on July 03, 2002
Korea gained the most ground, probably deservedly.
posted by elsoltano at 09:32 PM on July 03, 2002
And Korea is largely Baptist...the pattern continues. I, too, am a bit unnerved after reading the ranking procedures. Yikers is right. And what, after all, does "Strenght of the opponent" mean? What's a strenght? You got a strenght? I ain't got no strenght...
posted by Bixby23 at 10:08 PM on July 03, 2002
I'm getting a t-shirt that reads 'I belong to Juninho'. That is all.
posted by etagloh at 10:14 PM on July 04, 2002
I would say a lot of the movement is on the money, but how in the world can France lose only one spot after crashing out of the cup, and how can Columbia still be in the top 10 without even attending the world cup? Also, how many times does the US have to beat Mexico (5 out of the last 6 I think) to overtake them in the rankings? I'm just thinking aloud.