Italy ends Brazil's stint at the top

[Silas]

ZURICH, Switzerland: World Cup champion Italy ended Brazil's 55-month stay at the top of FIFA's world soccer rankings, taking top spot for the first time since 1993.

Although Italy's last match was in November, Brazil slipped to second place because of a 2-0 loss to eighth-ranked Portugal last week.

In the list released Wednesday by FIFA, Italy had 1,562 points, 22 more than Brazil, and 27 more than third-place Argentina.

The rest of the top eight remained unchanged with Argentina followed by France, Germany, England, the Netherlands and Portugal.

The Czech Republic rose one spot to ninth, while Spain returned to the top 10 for the first time since October after a 1-0 friendly win at England.

Scotland rose six places to 20th, making it the highest riser in the top 25 along with No. 22 Ghana and No. 24 Uruguay.

The United States rose three places to 28th.



Source (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/14/sports/EU-SPT-SOC-FIFA-Rankings.php)
Let the rants begin. :cool:

[Miguel]

how come brazil slipped down because they lost to portugal, but we don't move up because of beating brazil :(

[expressnewbie]

The rankings are BS anyway.

BTW: When was the last time the 7th ranked team won against the 8th place team :D

[DdT_7]

does friendly count that much? BS

[chauchey]

The United States rose three places to 28th.heeeyyy...wherent they in 5th not so long ago? When have we ever seen a legitimately ranked #5 fall 23 spots in less than a year? sheesh.

[DdT_7]

heeeyyy...wherent they in 5th not so long ago? When have we ever seen a legitimately ranked #5 fall 23 spots in less than a year? sheesh.

yeah, that's what i thought. didn't we have thread discussing US rank before the WC? i think their rank drop that much after WC. anyway, they back to where they belong ;)

[sccr_11]

The rankings are BS anyway.

BTW: When was the last time the 7th ranked team won against the 8th place team :D

When was the last time the 2th ranked team won against the 8th place team :D:p

[unknownnw]

OMG this is a joke, a friendly costs us the first place !! I don't mind italy, but just cuz of a friendly !! OMG this is BS indeedd !!

[zaffo]

Haha looks right to me :D

[narduch]

Its about time. Italy should have been in first since August.

That being said, the rankings are still bogus. I'm convinced the new system was created so that FIFA could rank the US lower (because of all the people who whined when they were in the top 10). But by creating a system to make the US look bad, they've created a less stable ranking that makes even less sense then the old one.

[dada]

Please dont tell me a loss to Croatia, a win over Georgia and a draw with Turkey is what propelled Italy to number 1? If they didnt get it right after the WC they surely dont deserve it now.

I guess beating Argentina isnt worth much these days....

[bennmartin]

the rankings haven't made much sense in years. i look at the top ten standings and just shake my head most of the time.

[Allez.les.bleus]

Please dont tell me a loss to Croatia, a win over Georgia and a draw with Turkey is what propelled Italy to number 1? If they didnt get it right after the WC they surely dont deserve it now.

it was a loss to Croatia & France, a draw with Turkey and Lithuania (both in Italy), and a win over Georgia and Ukraine... but all that was ranked previously!

what is weird is that these rankings were just 1 month after the previous rankings of January 2007, but Italy hasn't played since November 15, 2006 (against Turkey as you said) since their friendly against Romania got cancelled, right?

So how did Italy gain 2 points (http://fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/index.html) without playing any games?

For example, if you look at the January rankings, everyone who didn't play didn't gain or lose any points: http://fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/index/0,2548,All-Jan-2007,00.html

Here Italy doesn't play and gains 2 points somehow!


I guess beating Argentina isnt worth much these days....

Before anyone thinks I'm just being anti-Italy, I think Argentina got fucked too.
They just beat France in Paris and yet they lose 16 points for some reason (and France only loses 27).

Just as Miguel pointed out, why does Brasil lose 48 points yet Portugal only gain 4 points?

If anyone can explain ANY method to this madness I would like to hear it!

Sadly, I think they just have a manatee picks some numbers and that's it! :D

[Nerazzurri4life]

even though the rankings are bogus and brazil should still be #1, the loss to portugal has larger implications for brazil...

portugal came and displayed more samba than brazil :(

fire dunga....please...
he is taking the samba out of brazil and trying to turn them into a defensive team....

all the great brazil teams were known for attack, style and flare
best defense is an offense!!!

please stop dunga...please

[Arsh287]

ha who even considers the fifa rankings as a meaningful way to rank anything? :rolleyes:

[R9magia]

I don't really have a problem with Brasil being taken out of the #1 spot. I still think Brasil is clearly the most talented team in the world individually but I wouldn't say we are the best team in the world. I disagree with Italy number 1 although I understand the reasons why. Personally I think France is the best team in the world at the moment despite Italy's WC win. They beat Spain and Brasil (the Worlds #1 at the time) and Portugal on their way to the WC final. They technically drew with Italy in the final and then beat the Italians in France 3-1 a few months later. The loss to Argentina I don't think meant much because the Argies lost to Spain and were crushed by Brazil, two teams France beat. Maybe the loss to Scotland hurt them, but then again, Italys record after the World Cup is 2W 2L 2D. Wins against Ukraine and Georgia, draws to Turkey and Lithuania, and losses to France and Croatia. Hard to understand the rankings sometimes but it is what it is.

My top 5 at the moment:

1) France

2) Italy

3) Brazil

4) Argentina

5) Portugal

[ajay]

Let me ask a retard question for a minute: How many points for a win? Does your points increase if you get 2-0 rather than 1-0?

[futumtch]

What you have to remember is that some matches carry more weight than others. Major Championships carry the most weight (which gave Italy the biggest boost naturally).

Also, (for you Brazil fans) since the points system is based on the last 4 years results instead of the old 8 year system, the good results Brazil obtained during the later part of 2002 (their WC win) no longer counts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Rankings

[R9magia]

^ I wonder how many points we got for Copa America (04), Conderations Cup (05) and finishing 1st in WCQ.

[phat]

They technically drew with Italy in the final and then beat the Italians in France 3-1 a few months later.

1. How do you "technically" draw a WC Final???:rolleyes:

2. "Technically" Italy's 3-1 loss to France was consolation gift match for the French:rolleyes:

[west501]

Argentina ends Italy's stint at the top (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=414415&cc=5901) :D :o :cool:

rant away ;)

[Nelly]

Bollocks to that^

Scotland 16th :eek: :eek: :D

[R9magia]

1. How do you "technically" draw a WC Final???:rolleyes:
Only a football newb would ask such a stupid question but i'll let you in on it anyway, you have to learn sooner or later.

If a game goes to PK, it goes down in the record books as a draw, same with Italy x Brasil 1994 :rolleyes:. Hope you learned something.

[Silas]

Scotland 16th :eek: :eek: :D
All hail Darren Fletcher! :cool:

[Sataris]

Germany ranked higher than england :cool:

[tanja]

Germany ranked higher than england :cool:

To me that's a matter of course.

[phat]

Argentina ends Italy's stint at the top (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=414415&cc=5901) :D :o :cool:

rant away ;)

Haven't they played more games?

Only a football newb would ask such a stupid question but i'll let you in on it anyway, you have to learn sooner or later.

If a game goes to PK, it goes down in the record books as a draw, same with Italy x Brasil 1994 . Hope you learned something.

I was being sarcastic, but FYI the record books say that Italy are Champions. Hope you learned something.

It's too bad Brazil was shit and lost to France, cause I would have loved to see pay back for '94...

[bass7bn]

very happy about being number one in the world again. i was pissed when argentina knocked us to 2 for a little while.

[phat]

Top 10
1 (1) Italy – 1,606 points
2 (3) Brazil – 1,538
3 (2) Argentina – 1,520
4 (4) France – 1,507
5 (5) Germany – 1,390
6 (6) Netherlands – 1,309
7 (7) Portugal – 1,292
8 (8) England – 1,278
9 (9) Spain – 1,238
10 (10) Czech Republic – 1,170

[bass7bn]

number 1 for a little then to number 2 then back to number 1! WOOO!