Wales rise above Republic of Ireland in FIFA rankings

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24564728

It's been a while. :D

And yet, we finished 5th whilst you finished 4th, and we were never really in contention, whereas you were until quite late on. I will never quite understand the dark forces behind the rankings. I really think it's poor from UEFA and FIFA to base seedings for qualification groups on such a system, as they did this time. It leads to teams getting in pots they shouldn't be in, as we were ludicrously sixth seeds for this campaign.

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Originally Posted by Cymro

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24564728

It's been a while. :D

And yet, we finished 5th whilst you finished 4th, and we were never really in contention, whereas you were until quite late on. I will never quite understand the dark forces behind the rankings. I really think it's poor from UEFA and FIFA to base seedings for qualification groups on such a system, as they did this time. It leads to teams getting in pots they shouldn't be in, as we were ludicrously sixth seeds for this campaign.

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The headline isn't Wales rise above Ireland, it's Ireland sink lower than the Welsh.
But I wouldn't get too excited, we'll probably end up in pot 2 and Wales in pot 4 for the Euro draw. So there's some justice after all.

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Originally Posted by Cymro

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24564728

It's been a while. :D

And yet, we finished 5th whilst you finished 4th, and we were never really in contention, whereas you were until quite late on. I will never quite understand the dark forces behind the rankings. I really think it's poor from UEFA and FIFA to base seedings for qualification groups on such a system, as they did this time. It leads to teams getting in pots they shouldn't be in, as we were ludicrously sixth seeds for this campaign.

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Haha....good post.

Congrats to wales cymro, ....I take some consolation in the fact that ye have some very good players.

However Scotland been 25 places ahead of us is slightly harder to take

...so are Scotlands recent results.

FIFA's ranking is and has always been a joke. It was a harmless joke when it was useless, but now FIFA is forcing this down the throats of confederations. It's going to ruin this world cup, we could have a group with Brazil, Italy, England and Mexico and another with Switzerland, Tunisia, Honduras and Iceland. Anyone with half a brain would have noticed it and stopped this madness, but we are talking about people who granted a World Cup to Qatar, so nothing can be expected from them.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

...so are Scotlands recent results.

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Absolutely Stutts....but thats recent results.

Their results were poor for the last cpl of campaigns including the first part of the last campaign which resulted in craig levein been fired.

Although wales have not qualified recently they have shown greater signs of improvement over a longer period imo including the gary speed era.

They beat Scotland twice in the last campaign also and I just think they have a better balance of players. But thats just my opinion.

I just think they have done more to be ahead of ireland based on the above than scotland seemingly have done to be 25 places ahead of us.

And more, it creates a vicious circle. Certain teams like Switzerland, Norway and Greece are always overrated as their position leads to weaker groups in the qualifyings, where they win more games than better teams in harder groups and end up "stuck" in a high position. The only well made ranking I can think of at football is the UEFA Coefficient. And this because it only involves teams that actually play against each other. Trying to compare the strenght of a central american and an african team, which will never play each other, play different opponents and a different number of games is a waste of time. This ranking should be done with. Nobody needs a ranking.

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Originally Posted by luiz

And more, it creates a vicious circle. Certain teams like Switzerland, Norway and Greece are always overrated as their position leads to weaker groups in the qualifyings, where they win more games than better teams in harder groups and end up "stuck" in a high position. The only well made ranking I can think of at football is the UEFA Coefficient. And this because it only involves teams that actually play against each other. Trying to compare the strenght of a central american and an african team, which will never play each other, play different opponents and a different number of games is a waste of time. This ranking should be done with. Nobody needs a ranking.

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Its irrelevant where South American/African teams are in the Fifa rankings, doesn't matter to us at all for the next WC qual draw.

We are in pot 2 for the 2016 Euro's, which is flattering to deceive, maybe we should ask Uefa for us to be put into pot 3?

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Originally Posted by geysir

Its irrelevant where South American/African teams are in the Fifa rankings, doesn't matter to us at all for the next WC qual draw.

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Yet another reason we don't need a ranking. Just let UEFA use their coefficients to seed the groups. It doesn't matter for Ireland, which will never be in the top-8, but if Brazil wasn't the host it would not be a seed in the WC, while Colombia, Belgium and Switzerland would. This is just so much madness.

Actually Ireland were in the top 6, albeit back in 1992...
:(

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Originally Posted by ArdeeBhoy

Actually Ireland were in the top 6, albeit back in 1992...
:(

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Im getting altitude sickness just thinking about that

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Originally Posted by geysir

The headline isn't Wales rise above Ireland, it's Ireland sink lower than the Welsh.
But I wouldn't get too excited, we'll probably end up in pot 2 and Wales in pot 4 for the Euro draw. So there's some justice after all.

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Problem is being 60th is gonna affect our seeding in the future, although it might not be that much of a problem
as the way we are heading 60th may well look pretty good.

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Originally Posted by luiz

FIFA's ranking is and has always been a joke. It was a harmless joke when it was useless, but now FIFA is forcing this down the throats of confederations. It's going to ruin this world cup, we could have a group with Brazil, Italy, England and Mexico and another with Switzerland, Tunisia, Honduras and Iceland. Anyone with half a brain would have noticed it and stopped this madness, but we are talking about people who granted a World Cup to Qatar, so nothing can be expected from them.

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That would be an awesome group, thats why the world cup is great.
Regarding ratings, good teams should do well no matter what pot they are in
And by the way - Switzerland (and Belgium) are decent teams

Wales and Scotland get results against Belgium & Croatia & we still have fans/pundits/ex managers who think we don't have the players to challenge top sides.

Strachan is starting to turn Scotland around & I hope our next manager can get a similar sort of reaction. Beating Croatia home & away is some achievement.

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Originally Posted by tricky_colour

Problem is being 60th is gonna affect our seeding in the future, although it might not be that much of a problem
as the way we are heading 60th may well look pretty good.

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What matters in the FIFA ranking is the position in the UEFA zone (30th) not where we stand in regards to Belize or Surinam 60th.
And it will only matter next for the WC 2018 draw and theoretically, in 2 or 3 months a team can jump from 4th pot to 2nd pot.

We certainly don't have anyone like Ramsey. What has he taken during the summer? I saw the last 20 mins of Arsenal today in my local and he was simply brilliant.

There is no way Wales and Scotland should be ahead of us in the real world. Wales under Coleman - come on!:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Grafter

There is no way Wales and Scotland should be ahead of us in the real world. Wales under Coleman - come on!:rolleyes:

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We did fail to beat Wales in our last game against them.

Naturally, Scotland's recent competitive victories over the highly-ranked Croatia have also done them massive favours.

Hmm, was at that game and even an Ireland enduring 'Trap fatigue' were better than a pretty mediocre home side, who often seem to add up to considerably less than their sum total.
Though Ramsey, better than Bale? Yeah.

And Scotland/Alba enjoying a WGS 'bounce', but they really aren't a great side currently.

Who said Ramsey was better than Bale?