New World rankings...

[redm]

I wouldn't say I have an issue with the rankings. I have an issue with those who are stupid enough to believe them. I have a major problem with the TA due to their willingness to revel in defeat and the backward image of Scotland that they project. I have no issue with the Scotland team; they are simply pesh and irrelevant.

 

You might want to take your issues with the rankings up with FIFA, no fans are to blame for that...as I said before.

 

As for the 'backward' image of Scotland that the TA project - wouldn't you concede that that England fans paint a much more 'backward' image of their country with their antics? Which image would you prefer?

[Therapist]

wouldn't you concede that that England fans paint a much more 'backward' image of their country with their antics?

 

What "antics"? As far as I'm aware there have been no "antics" for many many years.

[topcat]

The problem with the FIFA rankings is shared with any other attempt to make an objective appraisal of the relative strengths of around 200 international teams who only play about a dozen games a year each.

 

There simply isn't enough up to date data.

 

To include enough results to draw a meaningfull conclusion FIFA have to look back over years worth of results meaning that the rankings reflect not how good a team is now but how good they have been in recent times. Teams seem to peak in the rankings after they've actually gone into decline and when a team is resurgent it doesn't become evident in their ranking for a while. The current FIFA rankings are probably a better indicator of how things actually stood 12-18 months ago than they are of the current situation.

 

This is hardly a unique situation. Nadal wasn't officially world Number One until he beat Federer at Wimbledon but he was probably the best player in the world before that but in Tennis competitiors play so often that it doesn't take long for players to find their level in the rankings. In rugby Union and Test Cricket there is a similar shortage of fixtures to serve as a form guide but it's a far smaller number of competing nations so it's a bit easier for the IRB.

 

As the worlds biggest sport with more competing countries than the United Nations has members FIFA's attempt to continuously maintain an order of merit based on a very limited set of matches (And it's not as if the ones like Andorra vs England was any use for this purpose) is a thankless and nigh impossible task.