Australia soar to 16th in the world rankings

[KopStar 6,334]

Sydney Morning Herald Article:

Socceroos soar to 16th in world rankings

July 1, 2009 - 6:59PM

The Socceroos have made a stunning jump in the FIFA world rankings on the back of their qualification for the 2010 World Cup to claim their highest ever position of 16th.

Australia jumped a remarkable 13 places in the latest rankings released on Wednesday, leaping ahead of a host of huge soccer nations including European powers Portugal, Czech Republic and Turkey.

"We are delighted at this news," Football Federation chief executive Ben Buckley said.

"Rankings are not the be all and end all of football but they are certainly an indicator of our progress."

The Socceroos clinched qualification for the World Cup with a scoreless draw against Qatar in Doha last month, before wins over Bahrain and Japan in Australia.

They went through the final stage of qualification undefeated and conceded only one goal in the process.

Australia are now clearly the top ranked team in Asia, with Japan's ranking falling to 40.

Now I know that most of the FIFA's ranking are pretty bad and not reliable but do the Soceroos deserve to be 16th? If not where do you think they should be ranked?

[Seftinho 4,344]

Re: Australia soar to 16th in the world rankings

The better teams from the weaker continents tend to be ranked higher than they should be really, as they win most of the time and get tonnes of points.

Although it applies to Europe too really. Considering England have gone to 6th on the back of wins over the likes of Andorra and Kazakhstan.

There shouldn't be so many rankings points given for the qualifying matches, especially over such weak sides.

The rankings are most accurate directly after the World Cup, so any rankings before then shouldn't be taken seriously. England 6th best team in the world? We'll see come the WC, but I think not.

[RoKo7 3,252]

Re: Australia soar to 16th in the world rankings

The better teams from the weaker continents tend to be ranked higher than they should be really' date=' as they win most of the time and get tonnes of points.

Although it applies to Europe too really. Considering England have gone to 6th on the back of wins over the likes of Andorra and Kazakhstan.

There shouldn't be so many rankings points given for the qualifying matches, especially over such weak sides.

The rankings are most accurate directly after the World Cup, so any rankings before then shouldn't be taken seriously. England 6th best team in the world? We'll see come the WC, but I think not.[/quote']

England are 7th now. I don't think it's all that unrealistic, there aren't many teams lower who are definatively better. Argentina and France would be the obvious two but they've got the chuckle brothers in charge for the moment which is a significant hinderance.

You're right on the rankings in general though, they're more accurate than they used to be but still far from ideal. Holland are up to third purely on the back of being drawn in an awful qualifying group and some of rankings further down the list are a little baffling. Northern Ireland higher than the Republic, for example.

[KopStar 6,334]

Re: Australia soar to 16th in the world rankings

England are 7th now. I don't think it's all that unrealistic' date=' there aren't many teams lower who are definatively better. Argentina and France would be the obvious two but they've got the chuckle brothers in charge for the moment which is a significant hinderance.

You're right on the rankings in general though, they're more accurate than they used to be but still far from ideal. Holland are up to third purely on the back of being drawn in an awful qualifying group and some of rankings further down the list are a little baffling. Northern Ireland higher than the Republic, for example.[/quote']

The better teams from the weaker continents tend to be ranked higher than they should be really' date=' as they win most of the time and get tonnes of points.

Although it applies to Europe too really. Considering England have gone to 6th on the back of wins over the likes of Andorra and Kazakhstan.

There shouldn't be so many rankings points given for the qualifying matches, especially over such weak sides.

The rankings are most accurate directly after the World Cup, so any rankings before then shouldn't be taken seriously. England 6th best team in the world? We'll see come the WC, but I think not.[/quote']

wat do u guys think specifically of australia being 16th. maybe a touch high personally, and im aussie. only real good team we played in our group was japan who beat beat 2-1 thanks to a cahill double. i think were top 20 but like i said 16 is too high.

[leicester city 4eva 50]

Re: Australia soar to 16th in the world rankings

sadly the fifa rankings are still inaccurate. england 7th and we didnt even qualify for the euro championship last year. means we shouldnt even be 7th in europe! as for australia if they had 2 play portugal at a neutral venue i would fancy portugal to win as they are a better team imo. the socceroos are still not playing any top sides really. however they do have some good players and should do ok at the world cup. to me they should be around 25th.

[Brumster 430]

Re: Australia soar to 16th in the world rankings

sadly the fifa rankings are still inaccurate. england 7th and we didnt even qualify for the euro championship last year. means we shouldnt even be 7th in europe! as for australia if they had 2 play portugal at a neutral venue i would fancy portugal to win as they are a better team imo. the socceroos are still not playing any top sides really. however they do have some good players and should do ok at the world cup. to me they should be around 25th.

Fifa Rankings are based on current performonce not if the did or did not quilify for world cup, euro champ...........

[LiamSmith 2,088]

Re: Australia soar to 16th in the world rankings

Its hard to tell if 16th is too high for Australia. While you are playing the likes of Japan and Bahrain its not much of a indicator how good they are. Suppose we will find out in the WC but personally i do not think Australia should be 16th in the rankings.

[AidanC1993 61]

Re: Australia soar to 16th in the world rankings

Its hard to tell if 16th is too high for Australia. While you are playing the likes of Japan and Bahrain its not much of a indicator how good they are. Suppose we will find out in the WC but personally i do not think Australia should be 16th in the rankings.

TBH, I dont see that much more quality if any in Australia than there is in the Republic of Ireland team and they're in the 40's. FIFA rankings right now are nowhere near the point of being close.

[andyowls 11,740]

Re: Australia soar to 16th in the world rankings

The better teams from the weaker continents tend to be ranked higher than they should be really' date=' as they win most of the time and get tonnes of points.

Although it applies to Europe too really. Considering England have gone to 6th on the back of wins over the likes of Andorra and Kazakhstan.

There shouldn't be so many rankings points given for the qualifying matches, especially over such weak sides.

The rankings are most accurate directly after the World Cup, so any rankings before then shouldn't be taken seriously. England 6th best team in the world? We'll see come the WC, but I think not.[/quote']

I agree with a lot of what is said right here. I'm not enitrely sure how the ranking points system currently operates but I think it needs a complete overhaul. Surely it would be most sensible to reward points on the basis of the points that a team accumulates, yet also takes into account of the quality of the opposition? What I mean by this is that, if England, for example, beat Spain in a Qualifier, then they would be rewarded the maximum amount of points possible. But if they beat Andorra, for example, they would earn much less than this. The amount of points earned could correspond directly to the opponent's world ranking and this would be so easy to set up. You'd just create a simple, although very large, chart which you could read and then deduce how many points a team has earned. Then, when you tot up the points for that month, the rankings would be reordered and then the chart can be adjusted accordingly. Does this make sense? Because this seems like such an obvious idea to me.

I'd also make sure that friendly victories don't count as much as Qualifier victories, or World Cup victories for that matter.

[RoKo7 3,252]

Re: Australia soar to 16th in the world rankings

wat do u guys think specifically of australia being 16th. maybe a touch high personally' date=' and im aussie. only real good team we played in our group was japan who beat beat 2-1 thanks to a cahill double. i think were top 20 but like i said 16 is too high.[/quote']

While it's probably a touch too high I don't it's criminally overrated or anything. When you think about it the top 16 is only equivilant to getting out of your group at a World Cup. There are probably teams below you that are as good, if not better on paper. Portugal have the individuals, Chile are playing some quality football etc.

The rankings are mostly bobbins anyway, they're always going to be weighted toward certain teams. It's far harder for a middle of the road CONMEBOL nation to accumulate points when they have tough opposition in almost every qualifier, while in Europe somebody like a Northern Ireland have easy chances to pick up points in 2 or 3 games against a team of minnows made up of postmen and teachers.

[Hercule Poirot 7,969]

Re: Australia soar to 16th in the world rankings

tbh 16th is high but not too far of there real position.

the probelm was weren't USA something like 2nd or 3rd at one point. Spain went top because they won the EUros. Brazil have won the last 2 confed cups,last 2 Copa Americas and did better than Spain in the WC

[khaz0r 34]

Re: Australia soar to 16th in the world rankings

I think the Socceroos under Guus was a better team than the current one under Pim. Realistically I find ourselves in the mid 20s. We need to play a few more European and South American teams and get positive results to be considered 16...

I'd actually want to see the Socceroos vs United States. The sporting rivalry between these two teams would be great. Both teams have bounced off positively from their campaigns and I think the game would be great.