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USMNT drop to 33rd in latest FIFA World Rankings

Maurice Edu, Michael Bradley

By IVES GALARCEP

The U.S. Men’s National Team haven’t played a match in five weeks, but that didn’t stop them from slipping yet again in the FIFA World Rankings.

The latest rankings have the Americans dropping to 33rd, falling a spot behind Romania in the latest chart.

The relative lack of matches over the past month meant little movement in the rankings, with only Japan moving up more than one place in the latest rankings among teams in the Top 30.

The Top Five remain unchanged, with Spain still on top and Germany second, while Argentina sits in third. Colombia moved into sole possession of sixth place after Portugal dropped to seventh.

Honduras cracked the Top 50, moving up two places to No. 49, while Mexico stood firm at No. 15. The U.S. team’s next opponent, Costa Rica, held steady at No.  53.

Comments

  1. Which country is likely to clinch the World Cup 2014? Whether it’s possible, you may see additional views on http://www.22222.webs.com. Finally, Germany, Italy, Argentina, Netherlands…know the significance of World FIFA Ranking! You simply cannot win a World Cup being in low-ranking; it would be like taking a difficult exam for which you reviewed nothing about!

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  2. World FIFA Ranking is an integral part of the system. To say that it makes no impact on a team’s strength is to botch the success of a team. Firstly, it is based on both “Friendlies” and International matches. Any good soccer coach knows the importance of what it means to have a low-numerical value in World FIFA Ranking. You don’t reckon on a team which has a low-ranking to win a World Cup; you don’t reckon on a team with a low-ranking to clinch the Confederations Cup 2013 in Brazil. Spain, for instance, have been on top of FIFA Ranking eight years in a row; it’s not surprising that they won the World Cup 2010! The least which a team can do is to be in second or third place to possibly win a World Cup, which happened to Brazil. To Vincent Del Bosque, every International match is important, and that’s why they’re one of the “finest” world squads.

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  3. You write the caption:

    Dolo “can one of you play the freaking wing, I’m covering the entire field by myself”

    Edu: “since I’ll lose possession anyhow, just kick it over my heads and hope it lands in a good spot”

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  4. [Required comment about the abysmally flawed nature of the FIFA rankings, and their unfortunate importance to seedings in the World Cup finals.]

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    • Actually the only thing it affects in terms of “seeding” is the top teams. If we were about to crack the top 10, then I would be more interested, because the top 7 teams (Groups A-H) that qualify, plus the host country, are “seeded as #1 in the 8 groups. After that, rankings don’t matter, association is what matters (i.e. 2 CONCACAF teams can’t place in the same group, 2 COMEBOL can’t place in the same group, etc…).

      Since we have no realistic shot (nor do we deserve) being ranked in the top 10, these rankings really have no bearing of where we will be placed in the WC draw (unlike the bearing it has in the March Madness college basketball tournament).

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      • I believe Brazil is a seeded team because they are the host. They are probably low because everyone is going through qualifiers which are weighted more and they are just playing friendlies which aren’t weighted as heavily.

    • In 2006 we had lost some players and things were not as good as in 2002, but that 2002 team- the way they played together and complimented eachother (McBride-Donovan, Reyna-OBrien) really played like a team that could square up with any top 10 team.

      Top 5 teams in the rankings are really 5 number 1 teams, and we don’t belong there.

      I definitely feel we are a lesser team than in 2009, or even 2010.

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  5. how is Ireland so high up and why is Poland so low and why is Coca Cola sponsoring them?

    Greece can’t be a top 10 nation even now. they have no world class players lol

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  6. we’re so in-consistent that we never would figure into a top 20. Top 30 for sure. we’re arguably as good as an Australia or a Peru

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    • “no reason to think we can beat the teams above us” . . . other than the fact that the US can’t seem to score more than 1 goal a game under Klinsi

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    • oh, come on, someone just has to write a letter to FIFA to let them know that the reason we lost games that actually count for WC qualifying to Jamaica was a bad field, and to Honduras because our European guys weren’t used to the heat-I’m sure they’ll understand and move the ranking up…right?
      if USMNT can beat a 4th division level A&B squad, they can beat any of the teams above them…

      Reply

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