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attime6

attime6

I caught WC fever over the summer and I've been following the European Leagues very closely (go Chelsea). I was checking the FIFA world rankings and noticed something that seemed a little odd. Greece is currently ranked 14th in the world. In their group stage of the WC they lost to Columbia and drew with Japan. In their final match they beat The Ivory Coast with what was seen by many as a wrongfully allowed penalty, allowing them to just barely get out of what can be seen as a rather easy group IMHO. In the KO stage they lost to Costa Rica. During their first Euro Qualifier they lost to Romania.

What I don't get is why Greece is ranked 14th and Costa Rica is ranked 15th. Costa Rica made it to the KO Round on top of a Group of Death and sent Greece home.

Can somebody please explain FIFA rankings and why this would happen?
 
Tacheless

Tacheless

attime6 said:
I caught WC fever over the summer and I've been following the European Leagues very closely (go Chelsea). I was checking the FIFA world rankings and noticed something that seemed a little odd. Greece is currently ranked 14th in the world. In their group stage of the WC they lost to Columbia and drew with Japan. In their final match they beat The Ivory Coast with what was seen by many as a wrongfully allowed penalty, allowing them to just barely get out of what can be seen as a rather easy group IMHO. In the KO stage they lost to Costa Rica. During their first Euro Qualifier they lost to Romania.

What I don't get is why Greece is ranked 14th and Costa Rica is ranked 15th. Costa Rica made it to the KO Round on top of a Group of Death and sent Greece home.

Can somebody please explain FIFA rankings and why this would happen?
Click to expand...

It would be easier to explain if you read here... http://www.fifa.com/worldranking/procedureandschedule/menprocedure/index.html

I read it and..........am none the wiser !!!!!!
 
bosseb

bosseb

The good thing with FIFA is that no one is ever bribed and that the decisions are always predictable and obviously fair. :blink:

$Sepp_Blatterb.jpg
 
mretzloff

mretzloff

Adam, to answer your question, though, while I am not 100% sure, I think the long-term playing field factors heavily into the rankings. Sure, Costa Rica played well this World Cup, but the chance of that ever happening again are pretty much zero. Greece, on the other hand, has played decently at least over the past decade or so. Also, qualifier games are not a good prediction of team's ability. Greece probably did not play we well in qualification games because they knew that they would qualify anyway. Soccer is not really like American sports where you could realistically have a team like the Royals win the World Series. The same ten or so teams will win the major tournaments 90% of the time.
 
brians_myth

brians_myth

From what I remember reading in the Laws of the Game last year, a team's performance over a period of 10 years is taken in consideration. Obviously more gravity is granted to "important" matches vice friendly competition games. Each team's World Cup performance is taken into an account more greatly than any regional or continental championship matches. Region and continental more than basic friendlies. And while I agree with mretzloff's 90% estimate, it can be misconstrued. You have to tie in who gets placed with who. If Germany, Argentina, Netherlands and France were in the same group, the results may have been drastically different. Bigger teams typically start slower and gain momentum during the stages.

But I do believe Costa Rica will play well in the next World Cup. Going up against teams like Chile, Spain and Netherlands is no easy task but that's how they made it appear. And There are golden moments. I've never considered Spain an amazing team before 2009. They had been to the top 4 in the World Cup once, in the 50s. They developed Tiki Taka, a playing system, and mastered it with the help of Xavi, David Villa and Fernando Torres. It didn't hurt that they also had Iker in the net and a strong bench. Same as the small known fact the USA was once 3rd place in the World Cup. Every team will have it's shine. More not than often. And that is why you see the rankings the way they are. That's the reason Brazil is still in the top teams despite their performance with Germany.
 
brians_myth

brians_myth

IMHO, the ranking system needs to be changed. Instead of a W,T,L being the main factor, goals scored/conceded needs to have more weight than it does now. Which is none. Germany's dismantling of Brazil should have placed them FAR beyond Argentina than they are. Each goal scored in excess of 3, but with a score/conceded percentage of no greater than 40%, should be given a multiplication factor of 2.0 in the WC, 1.5 in Continental matches and 1.0 in friendlies. I can only justify this by saying a HIGHLY theoretical result of 10-4 score in a match between Samoa and Vietnam in a friendly should have a MUCH greater goal point factor than a 1-0 match in a World Cup qualifier. Obviously the WC is greater than a friendly and should be given the same point scale of Match Point Multiplier.

For sake of my confusing anyone, points should also matter and be taken in to consideration with heavy consideration in blow out games.
 
Haggises

Haggises

I'm pretty sure Scotland's unimpressive own goal win over Georgia today did little to catapult them up the rankings....
 
bahomebrew

bahomebrew

if the op can explain how greece actually manage to score goals then they might have an alright time figuring out fifa's ranking system. i have watched them run the same team for about a decade with little imagination, very little touch, pace or team attacking, and continually get results with bundled in goals at the death, fluke penalty calls and all of that. i would think sepp is greek maybe on his mother's side?

also, i will say, japan, ivory coast, and colombia was not a cake walk to move on from, and my recollection is all those teams looked better than greece, though i.c. were fairly lackluster, a waste of their golden generation to not develop a better team attack with all of their talent. colombia got robbed by poor officiating and immaturity(and possibly missing one of their best goal scorers) against brazil, which probably would trade an earlier round 1 goal defeat to colombia than the thrashing they received at the hands of germany so, much like their world ranking, i think they overachieved. but maybe overachieving is not such a bad thing. i'd rather do more with less than squander a fortune. to my point, i got a steal when i hitched the loth to my wagon and you'll not hear me complain once about it.
 
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