USA Drop to 16th

These rankings are junk. I just don’t get them at all. Portugal beat both England and the Dutch in both of the last major tournament yet they drop in the list below these two teams.

Brazil did not even make it to a semifinal game and never looked solid in this tournament but the World Cup Champion is not number one ahead of them. I mean I personally hate the way the Italians play but winning the World Cup does not merit and number one ranking?

Posted from  United States

Yeah well 16th sounds fair. After seeing the quality of the teams at the world cup I don’t think anyone would protest if USA were in the 20s either.

Posted from  United States

16 there has to be at least 25 teams better than the USA in the world, lets see if I can nail em down,
France
Italy
Germany
Portugal
England
Brazil
Argentina
Switzerland
Sweden
Spaine
netherlands
czech republic
Ghana
Ivory Coast
Yugoslavia
Greece
Chile
Serbia
Poland
Ukraine
Korea
Austria
Iran
Mexico
Turkey
so the Ranking is an eufemism for Bull crap,

I think 16 is way too high for us. I’d put us at 25. And why is England and Holland so high? And why is Ivory Coast and Mexico so low?

Posted from  United States

nice touch with Yugoslavia Cesar XD

Posted from  Australia

It’s way too high.. But, we’ll take it why not, we have to be always in the top 20 at least in order for fifa to achieve its objectives. We are the most lucrative market, as they call it “virgin”. Hey I’ll take #1 if that will make our opponents respect us and fear us.
As for Serbia, that’s right Serbia’s team is a good team capable of doing great things, it’s just that they had a bad world cup that’s all. It can happen to anyone, just ask Brazil!

Posted from  United States

Yeah, the US should be in the mid-20’s. We have a solid (not great) domestic league, a few decent players in European leagues, but lack an established all-star.

We also play in a joke of a league.

If anyone has any doubts, just look at the home loss to Morocco, and the narrow victories over Latvia and Venezuela. And these were not their top teams.

Posted from  Dominican Republic

By league I meant CONCACAF

Posted from  Dominican Republic

CESAR! WTF?? Chile…Iran….Austria….Serbia…? Better than the US? I don’t think so amigo, not a chance. 16th is about right for us, you could make an argument for the little lower but not much. Chile? Really?

Posted from  United States

Thanks littleguy. Cesar needs to put down the pipe. How about Poland? No ranking system will ever be perfect, but what on earth could be your argument that Poland is 7 slots better than the US or even one for that matter.

Who cares if we don’t have a true star? How many stars on the Swiss team?

And who cares if our World Cup was lackluster. We were in the toughest group and we tied the champions with 9 men (and shut up about the own goal because it was a semi-forced error and they got their goal off a set piece from a classic Italian flop). In a more perfect tournament, with all 32 teams seeded, the US would likely go through but get beaten in the round of 16. So, maybe 16 is the exactly the right ranking for the US.

As for the other places, I don’t see any egregious misplacements. This thing is light-years better than its predecesor, no one can deny that.

Posted from  United States

cesar the validity pf ypur argument went down the tubes with the listing of Yugoslavia, it no longer exists and hasn’t been around for some time.

Posted from  United States

I was about to rip him for “Spaine” as well, but I guess Spain isn’t much better. The country is called Espana.

Why for that matter don’t we call all countries by the name they call themselves by?

Or let’s at least be consistent. If we say Didier Drogba plays for Ivory Coast, then why don’t we say Paulo Wanchope plays for Rich Coast?

No, let’s go with the proper name. If a man says his name is Carlos Bocanegra, you don’t call him Charlie Blackmouth. This goes for cities too. Is Munchen really that much harder to say than Munich?

Posted from  United States

if you want to be that correct, its called muenchen. but i think there’s no need for that much precisement, as long as the people that are reading your post, are able to understand it.

Anyway Ranking doesn t mean much in such fast spining world, I bet in a matter of 1 or 2 years the US team will be down to the shallows of the ranking with Korea, Japan and the likes… 2002 was an exception and the rule says Europe and South America first. I’d say Africa 3rd and then far far far… Asian and Concacaf with a bit of better fate for Concacaf if Mexico keeps up the good work…

Yougoslavia… LOL what about the Ottoman empire and the USSR?

Posted from  France

The rankings mean nothing. Have a look at them, but most importantly look at the points gained. It really seems to make no sense, some countries like switzerland seem to make huge leaps, yet a country like Australia that made it to the same stage yet against tougher opposition didn’t do anywhere near as well.

Posted from  Germany

Arturo: I was speaking generally and making an attempt at humor. All apologies, I guess if we want humor will need to wait for another post from malik (albeit sans capslock).

Allessandro. Ottoman Empire - that’s top drawer. Your Euro-arrogance, however, is most unsavory.

The US is going nowhere but up. Despite our poor showing in the World Cup and the poor showing for the Cup overall, the interest level of mainstream sports fanatics has peaked… and now that EPL games are readily available.. there’s no turning back.

Think about it for just a minute… do you really think that a nation of 300 Million people so utterly addicted to TV and sports that they let George W Bush get elected - twice! - can resist football now that it’s available 24-7-365.

Never mind, you won’t believe it until we beat you, and even then you’ll excuse yourselves on account of the referee or some other nonsense. Relish the 5-10 years you have before that happens.

Posted from  United States

5-10 years… I’d say a century or two… If the planet doesn t blow up before… Well, it’s all science fiction… I recall people predicting the USA or even Korea winning the next WC after the 2002 good results… Well, why not? But for now 2002 has been proven an exception, but u r right let’s wait a bit more…However you can t draw your forecast based on population size or tv coverage, because if so then the logic is that China or India would be next football powerhouse, and believe me, Chinese are football fanatics, a football craze far greater than anything u may experience in the states, they know all about European leagues, it’s amazing. Nevertheless their national team suck and as for India no comment…
Naaa, it takes more than this…

And I hope Sepp Blater steps down soon, can t stand the guy… Kofi Anan should take up… Meanwhile Sepp takes the UN helm…

Pace!

Posted from  France

I said the US was about 15th after the seifinals and I think I am right. Remember Group E was a very strong group. Italy is the king of result soccer and we are the only team to get a result against Italy. We should have tied Ghanna. Teams and players can have bad games. I thought Cherundolo was almost as good as Lahm and while Beasley was crap on offense in the Czech game, he attacked Italy as well as anyone and was good against Ghana. Like Zidane our emotions are clouding our view. Playing in more real tournaments and a few upgrades at some positions and we might legitimately be in the top 5.

Allesandro,

Population and tv coverage are merely a couple of key ingredients required to cook up the inevitable rise of US Soccer. Addiction to sports and a sense of “manifest destiny” to be the best in the world are others. But perhaps more important to the mix: we are a nation of immigrants who bring their passion for the game with them and are now passing it on to their children rather than falling into the other (lesser) American games. Given that you’re posting from France, I’m surprised that the importance of this phenomenon is lost on you.

Trust me, it will begin to register soon enough…

Posted from  United States

bossimo

U r right about the immigrants bringing their passion to the country… But let me point out a few other things:

- “manifest destiny to be the best in the world” I recall that you previously claimed quote: “Your Euro-arrogance, however, is most unsavory”,well what you just wrote seems even more arrogant as there’s no fact (as for football) proping up your statement and even if there were, that seems stuck up.

- “inevitable rise”
It’s been since 1994 that guys like you come up every four years drawing such conclusions. You have the right to be sanguine and to support your team, fair enough, but so far it seems nowhere near inevitable rise… Facts…

- “I’m surprised that the importance of this phenomenon is lost on you.”
It’s not lost, I live in Europe, people breath, eat, hear, think football, there’s utmost passion, pressure, drama, money, scandals with no equal standing in the world except South America to some extent. People around the world follow European leagues and every single player dream is to play here, in huge over packed stadiums with people following the game like religious fanatics, screaming players name and singing as if it were football liturgy. Europe is the land of football, it came from here and it s been expanded here and now it is thriving worldwide from here.
Apart from that I lived in China and I lived in the states as well, there’s no possible comparison with what you find in Europe… And this u should understand it as you were definitely right about passion of the game as a very important factor. So yes the sport might become more and more recognized in the states but this is only taking place within a global trend that spread football all around the world up to the most remote and isolated countries. So what is happening in the states is merely the sideline of such worldwide stretch. I am just coming back from China and let me tell u how far it goes. Indeed I was amazed, even local taxi drivers knew about some players whom are not even that famous in Europe! They follow the E. leagues every sunday and when u ask any youngster (they are the future) they know all about football…

I guess we can claim that nowadays football is by far the world sport n°1.

The USA playing football is a good thing as it contributes to foster it as the world leading sport. However I don t think that the USA will ever emerge as a good football nation (or at least for the next decades) and even less chance as a football powerhouse. The concacaf makes no sense, and thanks to that easy confederation the country can reach every single WC final stage with no real competition let alone Mexico. On top of that the MLS is isolated.

Another point is that you have very strong local sport ferver (namely: baseball, american football and basket ball) which pretty much appeal to most of the public. Propelling football to the top won t be easy thing happening overnight.

Wish u good luck though.

Posted from  France

Don’t worry bossimo, I’m sure plenty of Americans will be able to resist the beautiful game.

But you know what, who cares about them.

Posted from  United States

That’s right, who cares.

Allesandro, unlike the wave of troglos that hit this blog to hurl insults at the US during the cup, I feel you and I would agree on most things, given time and a few pints.

Yup, I definitely went over the top with a few comments there about US ascendency, but I think if you saw how hot the core of US soccer is burning right now, you’d agree with the underlying premise.

It’s all about your perspective. Just over a decade ago, US basketball ruled the world. In the wake of the Dream Team it was hard to imagine that just 10 years later, the US would get beaten as bad as it has recently, let alone the prospect of a talented young frenchman running point on an NBA championship team AND bagging one of the hottest babes in the States. Unfathomable!

We had the best league in the world. The game was invented here. We had all the top talent. The US, it was commonly accepted, could go two, three, maybe even four teams deep and still beat any country. Who could have seen this coming? But, here we are. We fielded a second team at the Olympics and were never really in the hunt. We got beat plain and simple. And you know what else? No one really seemed to care that much.

Such is the state of the NBA in America. Baseball is even worse off. Sure people go to games to sit in the sun and drink beer, but - save the Red Sox and Yankees - the passion is gone. Sure, the NFL reigns supreme, but it’s stance is being eroded more rapidly than people are willing to recognize. In the era of Tivo and time-starved lives, how long can a game of 3+ hours with only 45 minutes of action reign supreme? The beautiful game will increasingly fill the void…

Posted from  United States

bossimo I take a wild guess by supposing that u r of Italian descents…

So you have a great and exciting challenge: to bring passion to US stadiums for the beautiful game.

Ok, here are some good points to cheer u up:
- U know what, it’s an american family who owns Manchester United.
- I know Beckam is investing in training camps in the states.
- I read that Youri djorkaeff (a former french national player) is trying to have Zidane sign for the NYC redbulls…!
- Football is big money, Americans are always around when big money stakes pop up.

Posted from  France

US belongs even lower than 16..they proved that at the WC..should be lower 20’s..it was a joke they were ranked 5th before..NOT even CLOSE.