Ireland ranked 21st by FIFA

**Eirenua** · 14/09/2005, 9:51 AM

No surprise
england down to 11th

**finlma** · 14/09/2005, 10:02 AM

Seems reasonable.

Also looks like we're definitely going to be in the 4th seeding group for 2008 qualifying. Could make qualifying very tough.

**thejollyrodger** · 14/09/2005, 11:00 AM

we will be third if we win our next two matches.

Not that being second has ever done us the slightest bit of good. Third will be fine for me, top two teams go through AFAIK so we will be fighting against a team slightly better than us. Our best strenth.

**Metrostars** · 14/09/2005, 1:51 PM

These ranking are always a load of kack.

**beautifulrock** · 14/09/2005, 1:53 PM

not good for our future seedings, thats all that worries me.

**shedite** · 14/09/2005, 2:20 PM

On current rankings (and I know there's a LONG way to go, the qualifying pots for WC2008 would be):

Pot A:
Holland
Czech
France
Spain
Portugal
Sweden
England
Turkey

Pot B:
Italy
Denmark
Germany
Poland
Greece
Ireland
Croatia
Russia

There's a lot of teams ahead of us from outside Europe so we shouldn't be too bad. Russia are in the top 16 in Europe but are 30th in the world. I presume there's more taken into account than just rankings though.

**Stuttgart88** · 14/09/2005, 3:02 PM

eirebhoy has been keeping a running record of the seeding coefficients I think.

Not happy reading from an Irish perspective.

Nothing whatsoever to do with FIFA Ranking.

**dancinpants** · 14/09/2005, 4:53 PM

Originally Posted by Metrostars

These ranking are always a load of kack.

Proof, if any was needed, of this is:

England get spanked 4-1 by Denmark and lose 1-0 to a team that was ranked 116th - they drop 4 places losing FIVE points in the ranking.

Ireland lose 2-1 to Italy and 1-0 to France - we drop 7 places and FIFTEEN points in the ranking.

Now, if someone can explain that yer a better person than me!!! Personally, I think it is rigged to suit a select few countries.

**Plastic Paddy** · 15/09/2005, 6:14 AM

Originally Posted by dancinpants

Personally, I think it is rigged to suit a select few countries.

Which could help explain why, despite some ropey performances at the end of Jack's time and in Mick Mac's early days, we have always hovered around fifteenth...

PP

**Irish_Praha** · 15/09/2005, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by Plastic Paddy

Which could help explain why, despite some ropey performances at the end of Jack's time and in Mick Mac's early days, we have always hovered around fifteenth...

PP

I agree that these world rankings are w@nk but in fairness both us and Turkey were ranked somewhere between 35th and 40th when we played the qualifer for Euro 2000 (Lee Carsley's handball game) It was the great run of results in the WC 2002 qualifiers and getting to the second round of the WC that boosted our position. What has been strange is that we managed to maintain a top 15 to 20 position until now despite not achieving much over the last 3 yrs. It's obvious (as stated on here many times) that the decent friendly results we've had hold too much weight.

dancinpants

Originally Posted by dancinpants

Proof, if any was needed, of this is:

England get spanked 4-1 by Denmark and lose 1-0 to a team that was ranked 116th - they drop 4 places losing FIVE points in the ranking.

Ireland lose 2-1 to Italy and 1-0 to France - we drop 7 places and FIFTEEN points in the ranking.

Now, if someone can explain that yer a better person than me!!! Personally, I think it is rigged to suit a select few countries.

This seems strage yes but England lost both games playing away and we lost both at home. So it looks like this makes up a major factor in their calculations too.

I think they should review their system to bring it more into line with the seeding method which is more realistic.