USMNT #12 in FIFA rankings

[ElSissy]

FIFA released updated rankings July 1st, the first rankings since the Confederations Cup. Spain is now #2, while Brazil moved up four spots to take the top ranking.

http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender=m/fullranking.html

[CopperCat]

The US gets to the final match after beating the #1 team in the world and only gets to the #12 spot??? Pretty messed up rankings there.

[ElSissy]

Where would you rank a team that went 2-3 in the Confederations Cup? Two games against Brazil showed we are still pretty far from the elite of the world.

[mcveyrl]

Where would you rank a team that went 2-3 in the Confederations Cup? Two games against Brazil showed we are still pretty far from the elite of the world.

Also, many of the teams ahead of us were not in the tournament, so it's hard to discredit them based on our results. Which, as El Cid pointed out, weren't stellar (although I think the second game against Brazil showed we could hang with them).

[TexasTerror]

And lest we forget our CONCACAF qualifying...

This tournament was not the only thing impacting our USMNT as of late...

[89Hen]

I think 12 is fair. But what the hell did Greece do to move up 6 spots this month? They haven't played a game since April 1 (barely beating Israel over a two game match). WTF??? xconfusedx xconfusedx xconfusedx

[UNHWildCats]

I think 12 is fair. But what the hell did Greece do to move up 6 spots this month? They haven't played a game since April 1 (barely beating Israel over a two game match). WTF??? xconfusedx xconfusedx xconfusedx
something about it involving matches over I believe the past four years.... so my guess is the month that was elimiated from four years ago was a real bad month for them which would boost them....

[89Hen]

something about it involving matches over I believe the past four years.... so my guess is the month that was elimiated from four years ago was a real bad month for them which would boost them....
Dunno, but that'd be a pretty stupid system. I'm not saying it all has to be what have you done for me lately, but xeyebrowx

[Hoyadestroya85]

These rankings mean nothing to me.. weren't we in the top 5 in the lead up to Germany? And we laid a huge egg. I would rather have teams think of us as an afterthought than a serious contender

[slycat]

The only good part of FIFA ranking is positioning in the World Cup.

Then again we were top 10 in 2006 and fell flat on our faces.

I like being the underdog.

[slycat]

Where would you rank a team that went 2-3 in the Confederations Cup? Two games against Brazil showed we are still pretty far from the elite of the world.

Only the first match against Brazil and Italy were really bad.

That and a couple World Cup Qualifiers.

[OhioHen]

The only good part of FIFA ranking is positioning in the World Cup.


US won't be one of the top 7 (plus host) seeds, so ranking will have no impact on where we fall in the draw. xcoffeex

[Lehigh Football Nation]

I just hope that we're in Spain's group :D

[PaladinFan]

USMNT starts two former Furman Paladins: Clint Dempsey and Ricardo Clark. Real testament to the Furman program to have two of the best 11 men's soccer players in the U.S.

[blur2005]

These rankings mean nothing to me.. weren't we in the top 5 in the lead up to Germany? And we laid a huge egg. I would rather have teams think of us as an afterthought than a serious contender
After the '06 World Cup FIFA altered the way the rankings worked so that they are a little more reasonable in the stretch of time that affects each team's rating. It used to be eight years, now it's four. There were some other changes, too.

We should feel pretty good about 12th. Here's more (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Rankings) about them.