FIFA Rankings: New Low for Canada!

[sstackho]

Hooray!

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070314.wsptfifa14/GSStory/GlobeSportsSoccer/home

Canada reaches a new low

Canadian Press and Associated Press

ZURICH, Switzerland — Canada reached a new soccer low Wednesday, plummeting 16 places to No. 103 in the FIFA world soccer rankings.

The Canadian men, sandwiched between Uganda and Malawi, find themselves falling down the ladder despite not having played since a 1-0 loss to Hungary in November.

No team fell farther than Canada did this month.

Further up the ladder, Argentina jumped two places to reach top spot for the first time.

Argentina pushed World Cup winner Italy into second place and Brazil into third.

The previous Canadian low was No. 101 in December 1998. The Canadian high was No. 40 in December 1996.

The Canadians stand 13th in CONCACAF, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean. Among the CONCACAF countries looking down on Canada are Guyana and tiny St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Mexico leads CONCACAF teams at No. 21 while the U.S. dropped two places to 30.

Argentina's move to the top was boosted by its 1-0 over France last month. France, the World Cup runner-up, remained fourth, ahead of Germany, England and the Netherlands.

Since the rankings were introduced in 1993, Brazil has been the most dominant team, finally losing its 41/2-year stay atop the rankings to Italy only in January. Italy's last game was a 1-1 draw with Turkey in November.

Many among the top 15 remained in the same spot, with Scotland making a strong move from No. 20 to 16.

Cameroon was the top African country at No. 18, even though it dropped a place. It just held out against Ghana, which gained three spots to move to No. 19.

Iran was the top Asian team in 34th place, ahead of Australia, which moved to the Asian confederation last year, at No. 40.

[The Ref]

I got to handed it to Linford, he accomplished what nobody else had.

[David C.]

Well, it's about time FIFA drop's us below St. Vincent and the Grenadines. This ranking is making much more sense now. [:I]

21 Mexico

30 USA

50 Costa Rica

52 Honduras

54 Panama

59 Cuba

61 Jamaica

68 Trinidad and Tobago

88 Haiti

90 Guatemala

95 Guyana

100 St. Vincent and the Grenadines

103 Canada

[Cheeta]

YES!!!

Believe it or not, I've been waiting for this day.

"No team fell further than Canada did this month."

[jonovision]

As pointless at it might seem, a thrashing of Bermuda (ranked only slightly below Canada at 116) would do wonders for our FIFA ranking. If we could manage a multi-goal win, away, I'd predict at least a 10-point jump next month.

[Guest Ed]

quote:Originally posted by The Ref

I got to handed it to Linford, he accomplished what nobody else had.

Hear hear. His list of accomplishments since punting the Teflon king:

SFA.

[redhat]

Hmm, FIFA's rankings are due to Linford?

Let's fix that by doing the obvious:

1)Hire a coach (with pedigree, within budget, without the old boys connections)

2)Play a lot of friendlies (Start with Bermuda, go on to Argentina, play Concacaf)

3)Get your superstars to play for the country (Sounds like that's starting to happen)

4)View the TFC and U20 as stepping-stones to future success

5)Do well in the Gold Cup (Let's surprise a few of these Concacaf pretenders)

6)Reach the World Cup

Let's face it, if this is the bottom (103), we can definitely surprise a few people

on the way up.

[JesseDart]

quote:Originally posted by redhat

Hmm, FIFA's rankings are due to Linford?

Let's fix that by doing the obvious:

1)Hire a coach (with pedigree, within budget, without the old boys connections)

2)Play a lot of friendlies (Start with Bermuda, go on to Argentina, play Concacaf)

3)Get your superstars to play for the country (Sounds like that's starting to happen)

4)View the TFC and U20 as stepping-stones to future success

5)Do well in the Gold Cup (Let's surprise a few of these Concacaf pretenders)

6)Reach the World Cup

Let's face it, if this is the bottom (103), we can definitely surprise a few people

on the way up.

I hate to start this again, but i have to add a numer 7 to your list

7) The CSA should have a plan for a Canadian professional soccer league that takes into account the geographical and regional challenges or at the very least endorse and sanction the leagues in existance other than the MLS.

Football in this country will not grow unless we have domestic professional players.

[nolando]

reminds me of an old SNL skit (with Jon Lovitz and Tom Hanks??),

"Nowhere to go but up...unless we stay right here."

[RJB]

As much as we all hate these rankings, it is starting to get a little embarassing how poorly we are doing, and how we are doing nothing about it... oh wait, we got eight players on TFC, I forgot about that. Nevermind, we're going to be fine.

[RS]

quote:Originally posted by RJB

As much as we all hate these rankings, it is starting to get a little embarassing how poorly we are doing, and how we are doing nothing about it... oh wait, we got eight players on TFC, I forgot about that. Nevermind, we're going to be fine.

This whole anti-TFC thing is getting very tiresome.

[RJB]

quote:Originally posted by Rudi

This whole anti-TFC thing is getting very tiresome.

What can I say... I like to beat a dead horse. I'm not anti-TFC, I'm just conscious that one team in MLS isn't the solution. Add Montreal and Vancouver, and that is still about seven clubs away from a solution.

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by RJB

I'm not anti-TFC, I'm just conscious that one team in MLS isn't the solution. Add Montreal and Vancouver, and that is still about seven clubs away from a solution.

I have yet to meet a single person who thinks one MLS club is the solution. A step in the right direction yes, but the be all & end all to Canada's soccer problems? No one thinks that.

Incidentally I'd say the only realistic hope of getting another 7 clubs (I'm assuming you mean combined at MLS and USL levels) is for TFC to continue to be a success, encouraging other owners with deep pockets (like Kerfoot & Saputo hopefully others in other parts of the country) to put their money into local pro soccer, convinced that they can actually make money by doing so. Otherwise it will be a tough sell with so many other failures (perceived or real) having discouraged potential investors in the past.

[loyola]

quote:Originally posted by RJB

What can I say... I like to beat a dead horse. I'm not anti-TFC, I'm just conscious that one team in MLS isn't the solution. Add Montreal and Vancouver, and that is still about seven clubs away from a solution.

Of course TFC isn't the solution but it's a step in the right direction.

Currently we have some U-20 players that would be training with younger kids at a lower level of play at an NTC site, but instead they are training with TFC which is a positive. Of course that won't instantly qualify us to the WC but it's giving a great opportunity to those young men and maybe it will be easier for them to find works in Europe in the near future???

Also TFC is giving a chance to those almost unknown NCAA players (Asante, Hemming) and Europe 4th division players (Canizalez) to play at a better level.

[youllneverwalkalone]

quote:Originally posted by Rudi

This whole anti-TFC thing is getting very tiresome.

Yes, I agree. Dreadfully tiresome, RJB, you rogue! How dare you disrespect the long history and tradition of the Toronto support? Die hard red and grey since 2006! Shame on you RJB, shame on you!

[Vancouver Fan]

If we are ranking football associations or federations then the 103rd spot is probably accurate. The actual squad ,of course, is nowhere near that ranking and we all know it. The FIFA rankings should serve as a report card for the CSA. If they were to ever take it seriously and care to move up then we might one day see more games and more preparation for our players.

[RS]

quote:Originally posted by youllneverwalkalone

Yes, I agree. Dreadfully tiresome, RJB, you rogue! How dare you disrespect the long history and tradition of the Toronto support? Die hard red and grey since 2006! Shame on you RJB, shame on you!

Whatever.

It's just annoying how so many on this board love to point to TFC as a direct connection to the CSA's failures.

[sstackho]

Here's Neil Davidson's take on things.

Canada falls to No. 103, Argentina reaches top spot in FIFA rankings

BY NEIL DAVIDSON

CP

685 words

14 March 2007

17:14

The Canadian Press

English

© 2007 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Canada reached a new soccer low Wednesday, plummeting 16 places to No. 103 in the FIFA world soccer rankings.

The Canadian men find themselves sandwiched between Uganda and Malawi, falling down the ladder despite not having played since a 1-0 loss to Hungary in November. Still, no team fell farther than Canada did this month.

So what happened?

Blame Canadian inactivity and recent mediocrity, and a FIFA ranking system that rewards success today over past accomplishments.

Using a complicated system, the world governing body of soccer assigns points for every win or draw over the last four years.

Points garnered during the last 12 months count in full, while those over the three previous years are discounted (50 per cent, 30 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively).

In Canada's case, the latest rankings dropped a 2-0 win over Austria on March 1, 2006, from the current year (the FIFA rankings use the 14th day of the month as a starting point) to the previous one. So valuable rating points were cut in half.

Instead of the current year yielding 155.06 points from four games, the new rankings have Canada earning 64.26 from three outings. The addition of the Austria result to last year's total resulted in a slight bump on that part of the ledger _ from 96.1 to 110.64 points _ but Canada still leaked points overall given the current year shortfall.

That one change resulted in Canada tumbling 16 places _ with 285.48 points as opposed to 361.73 the month before.

The previous Canadian low was No. 101 in December 1998. The Canadian high was No. 40 in December 1996.

FIFA revamped its rating system last July in advance of the World Cup, looking to make it more accurate.

Canadian coaches and soccer officials routinely downplay the rankings, but being below the likes of Gabon and both Congos does little for the national team's profile here or abroad.

It also makes life difficult for players looking to obtain work permits overseas. It's hard making a case that someone is a must-have player when his country languishes below St. Vincent and the Grenadines (ranked 100th with a population of 118,000 as of last July) in the world rankings.

And it can't help Canadian Soccer Association officials in their search for a new head coach, CEO and technical director.

The good news for the men's team is that the Gold Cup is this summer, offering at least three potentially point-rich matches in the CONCACAF championship.

There are also friendlies scheduled against Bermuda and Iceland, with more to come.

Further up the rankings ladder, Argentina jumped two places this month to reach top spot for the first time. The South Americans pushed World Cup winner Italy into second place and Brazil into third.

Argentina's move to the top was boosted by its 1-0 win over France last month. France, the World Cup runner-up, remained fourth, ahead of Germany, England and the Netherlands.

While Canada lost 77 points this month, Argentina gained 81 _ upping its total to 1,616, almost six times Canada's number.

The amount of points awarded from each game is determined by the outcome, the importance of the match (with World Cup finals at the top and friendlies at the bottom) plus the strength of the opposition and its confederation to which it belongs.

The maximum available from one match is 2,400 and France collected 2,388 in its 1-0 win over then-No. 1 Brazil in the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup.

The most points Canada has won during the current four-year rating period is 1,465.2 for a 1-0 win over Costa Rica in July 2003 at the Gold Cup.

Of course, a win or draw is needed to gain points and Canada has managed that in just 13 of the 230 matches over the four-year rating period.

[Loud Mouth Soup]

And you guys thought the CSA was bad?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/6454095.stm

[VPjr]

i honestly could care less about these rankings. Canada hasn't played a game in 3 months and they lost that one so where else can they go but down.

Canadian soccer has been mismanaged for more than 20 years. Turning this ship around is going to take time, patience, money, etc...

I have read a bunch of great ideas about how we can improve the game in this country. Too bad the CSA doesn't seem to pay much attention to those of us who TRULY CARE about the game.

[trueviking]

what kind of ranking system can have a country drop by 50 spots in 6 months?...shouldnt there be some kind of stability built in to the system, even if you dont play as much for a period of time?

it makes no sense that we can go from 55 to 103 in a single year...these rankings fluctuate more than the tables of a national league where teams play every few days.

there needs to be a way that fairly judges the quality of each side on a longer term....players on national sides generally dont change that quickly and teams only play a handful of games a year, so how can the quality of a team fluctuate so wildly in a short time?

it just emphasizes the inadequate nature of this new system.....countries just fly around all over the charts.

[Joe Keeper]

quote:Originally posted by trueviking

what kind of ranking system can have a country drop by 50 spots in 6 months?...shouldnt there be some kind of stability built in to the system, even if you dont play as much for a period of time?

it makes no sense that we can go from 55 to 103 in a single year...these rankings fluctuate more than the tables of a national league where teams play every few days.

there needs to be a way that fairly judges the quality of each side on a longer term....players on national sides generally dont change that quickly and teams only play a handful of games a year, so how can the quality of a team fluctuate so wildly in a short time?

it just emphasizes the inadequate nature of this new system.....countries just fly around all over the charts.

I agree. These rankings are blody insane. They are so fickle with the wild rises and drops of countries. Talk about Canada hitting new lows, this new system is just the proverbial shuffle that fifa has thrown themselfs to dig their way out of their own in the hole rankings.