England- 4th best in the world?

[Yellow4life]

Really?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13957893.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ahead of Brazil! And Argentina?


FIFA RANKINGS FOR JUNE
Continue reading the main story
1 Spain
2 Netherlands
3 Germany
4 England
5 Brazil
31 Republic of Ireland
61 Scotland
62 Northern Ireland
114 Wales

[happytorq]

Therefore clearly showing even more that FIFA are useless.

[HRG]

I wouldn't have us in the top 10 personally and judging from our current crop of under 21s I don't expect much improvement.

[BritishGAS]

England are never 4th in the world in terms of ability, They are a million miles away from it.

But they work the rankings out judged by results over a number of years, and although England usualy stink the place out in major tournements, apart from the odd occasion they usualy qualify for them with ease.

Its just like in Golf, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood have never won a major, yet find themselves number 1 and 2 in Golfs world rankings.

The same in womens Tennis, Safina and Wozniacki have both never won a Grand Slam but have both found themselves at number 1 in the world.

I suppose if you use the same logic then it is feesible.

[Robiberto22]

haha wales in 114 lol mexico in 9th by the way just above argentina somehow and bukina faso????? 37th?

american samoa in last still i atually applyied for the managers job when i was 19 and got an interview but couldnt go so they gave it some old guy from yeovil reserves instead - man i had plans for them :slap:

[leetufc]

The world rankings are a farce, England 4th lost 1st round at WC and not doing great in Euro quals, same with Portugal in 7th. Italy 6th lost in WC groups but doing better in quals, Croatia 8th didn't even make WC and same quals performance as us so far.

No doubt England will drop down again after the Copa America has been played. Brazil and Argentine have had no competitive games since 2010 WC which is why we've moved above them.

[Smithys]

I disagree with England being 4th but I'd say they are well in agmosnt the rublle of 5th to 10th...
In my opinion;
1- Spain
2- Germany
3- Holland
4- Brazil
5- Argentina
6- England
7- France
8- Italy
9- Mexico
10- Portugal

[Smithys]

I wouldn't have us in the top 10 personally and judging from our current crop of under 21s I don't expect much improvement.

as for that I wouldnt agree, now I'm sure we would all agree the Germans and the Dutch have a great young talent emerging, they failed to even qualify, England U21's for me lacked the most influential players avaliable to them ie Wiltshire or Martin Kelly, and Pearce made some bad calls, We are the current U16 European championships and our Young Lions are impressing in the U17 World Cup, in witch theyve Just knocked out Argentina on their way to the Quaters. I'd say the future of English football is bright.

[HRG]

The U17s and 16s I wasn't talking about they may well be future world beaters I don't know. But they won't be hitting our main squad for a while. And even though our top two international teams are utter shite I wouldn't expect anything less than to hear that we have promising youngsters. But for the next World Cup and the upcoming Euros I expect nothing. Ace teens won't change a thing right now.
Martin Kelly I don't know of.
Wiltshire is undoubtedly talented but he's been brainwashed by Wenger, hence his no show. Other than Wiltshire and a couple of others, where is the immediate promise? My fear is we'll end up being like the Ivory Coast or Wales. One amazing player plus others.
One player does not a team make.
Time however could change everything.

[Yellow4life]

We are the current U16 European championships and our Young Lions are impressing in the U17 World Cup, in witch theyve Just knocked out Argentina on their way to the Quaters. I'd say the future of English football is bright.

Things must be bright as the under 17 team won a shootout- that's right an England team won a penalty shootout! !!

[AustrianAndyGull]

England are not even in the top 10 IMO. All they do is beat minor European nations in qualifying then get beaten by a team from the 'real' top 10 come tournament time. It will never change because England have only 1 truly world class player and that is Steven Gerrard. He puts in a shift week in week out and drives and dominates. Rooney does the odd world class pass, or shot but every four to fives games, Messi on the other hand is an absolute genius. He works hard, he trsacks back, he attacks players, he never falls over or really dives, he always finds an opponent and he scores goals - EVERY WEEK! The man is a genius. The rest of the England squad are just average players made to look good in the prem by playing alongside superior foreign players.

[Boom Boom]

I disagree with England being 4th but I'd say they are well in agmosnt the rublle of 5th to 10th...
In my opinion;
1- Spain
2- Germany
3- Holland
4- Brazil
5- Argentina
6- England
7- France
8- Italy
9- Mexico
10- Portugal

Mate we're shit. if we played each of the clubs below us atleast 5 times we'd only maybe beat one of them once. We're probably around 15th & 20th to be honest.

[happytorq]

He works hard, he trsacks back, he attacks players, he never falls over or really dives, he always finds an opponent and he scores goals - EVERY WEEK! The man is a genius.

True, but football is a team game. Have you seen Argentina recently? They look like they should be world beaters but the other day the could only draw at home (in the Copa America, so a 'proper' game) with Bolivia. Bolivia! Messi was pretty good, but if the rest of the team can't support him it really doesn't matter. I actually think the team will improve, and I had a sneaky £20 on them to win the next world cup (in Brazil, heh) when I was last in England, but as things stand Messi being the best player in the world doesn't mean much.

This is fun, so here's my current top 8.

1. Spain (saw them play the US and they were...just..brilliant. USA are no mugs either)
2. Holland
3. Germany
4. Mexico (seriously - they have genuinely exciting team)
5. Brazil (couldn't beat Venezuela yesterday)
6. Argentina (see above)
7. France
8. Italy

Beyond the top 8, there are several teams who are great one day, crap the next. I include England in this group of half a dozen or so teams; teams who on their day are capable of upsetting the other 8, but just as capable of drawing at home to Macedonia.
England, USA, Portugal, Russia, Japan (ok, but they're imprvoing), Paraguay, Colombia.

I don't think England should be too upset at being in this particular bunch. We have to accept that playing England is a huge thing for countries that would otherwise probably not play very well - even though they've won nothing for ages, being the birthplace of the game, and playing at Wembley, and having the Premier League gives the England team a level of respect that it very rarely deserves.

I don't but that England doesn't have the players. There are very few team who have "world class" (a phrase that I hate, btw) players in every position. Spain is maybe the only one. It's a team game, and for years England's biggest problem has been getting the collection of *extremely* good players to play together. For a while a few years back, Lampard and Gerrard would would into most club sides in the world, but they could never (and I mean *never*) play together. But instead of working out a system to get the best out of one of them, successive England managers insisted on having them in the same team. Part of the issue is, I think, that players are coddled in the comfortable environs of the Premier League, which we know doesn't translate well to the international game, but because they are getting paid so much they won't try a move abroad. That's why I think you have to hand it to Beckham (shh, ok), Woodgate and even Michael Owen who at least gave it a go. And 2 of those players were pretty successful, despite what the Sun might have you believe (Owen had a better strike rate than any player in La Liga for that season). Woodgate was unfortunate with injuries, as always, but he's still a cult hero there, mainly because on his debut he scored an own goal and got sent off

Regarding the U-17s - they have potential but it's the same old story; they look good now but will they get more than a handful of sub Prem appearances before being shipped out on loan? They need to realise that they next couple of seasons could make or break their careers, but you just know most of them will happily take the money and see that potential go to waste. It's quite sad, really .

[Robiberto22]

4. Mexico (seriously - they have genuinely exciting team)

nice to see someone knows haha but in all seriousness being of mexican desent and follower of the mexico national team i would say we are 9th in the world, when it matters argentina brazil italy ect would beat us (we do have a decent record against brazil tho) tho i must also say the potentail of mexican football is great since i was a kid the progress has been excellent to the point where there a plenty of mexicans playing over here now, we play good football for sure but i'd say as long as we are in the top 10 (and above usa) we are doing well!

ps i long for the day we see a mexican in yellow!

[happytorq]

nice to see someone knows haha but in all seriousness being of mexican desent and follower of the mexico national team i would say we are 9th in the world, when it matters argentina brazil italy ect would beat us (we do have a decent record against brazil tho) tho i must also say the potentail of mexican football is great since i was a kid the progress has been excellent to the point where there a plenty of mexicans playing over here now, we play good football for sure but i'd say as long as we are in the top 10 (and above usa) we are doing well!

The USA/Mexico rivalry is one of the best in world football - the Gold Cup final was great. (although now that I''m supporting the US, also heartbreaking). I think it's a bit sad that a match in the US can get 90,000 people to show up, but only 10,000 or so of them are supporting the US, even though the vast majority of that crowd actually live in the States, but I guess that's always going to happen with such a large immigrant population (cf. when England play India or Pakistan at cricket).

I'm going to try to get down to the Azteca for the WC qualifying match, I think that'll be amazing.

Hernandez, Del Negri, Guardardo and Dos Santos are 4 forward players most teams would kill to have in their squad. They'll need to replace Marquez but seriously think they'll do well in Brazil. Don't expect anything from their guest appearance in Copa America though, mainly cos they've sent a 'shadow' squad. Mexico's main problem is stepping up to that 'top' level - they're in the same boat as the US in that they don't play the really good sides often enough (CONCACAF is a bit of a joke region), so that means they aren't able to adapt. I've been banging on about having a combined Americas federation for years now - there are only 12 teams in CONMEBOL, and they get 4.5 World Cup places, compare with 40 on CONCACAF (getting 2.5 WC places), although admittedly most of that 40 are rubbish. there are maybe 5 teams who in any one campaign can make it to the World Cup. Expanding Americas qualifiying to 20 teams, with two groups of 10, all play each other home and away, top 3 from each group qualify with 4th place teams going into play-off for 7th place.

I should totally be in charge at FIFA.