racha Posted July 4, 2002 Report Share Posted July 4, 2002 World Cup champion Brazil has reclaimed the top spot in world soccer governing body FIFA's world rankings released today. The five-time champion, which beat Germany 2-0 on Sunday, has 852 points after winning soccer's biggest prize in Yokohama, Japan. Brazil had not been at the top of the rankings since it's seven-year run was snapped in May 2001 when France, which won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship, took over the top spot. The Brazilians had been on top from July 1994, after they won the World Cup in the United States, until April 2001. The French, which failed to score a goal in three World Cup matches, slipped into a tie for second place with Argentina, each with 784 points. Both teams went into the tournament as favourites, but were sent home after failing to advance through the first round. The biggest jump in the rankings came from Turkey, which reached the semi-finals but lost to Brazil. The Turks jumped 10 places to sit in 12th place with 707 points. The biggest drops came from Colombia and Italy. Colombia, which won the Copa America at home last year, had been in fourth place. But after failing to qualify for the World Cup finals, it dropped to ninth. The Italians, who were eliminated by co-host South Korea in the second round, dropped from sixth to 10th. Australia fell two places to 48th on the list. The United States, which surprised many by reaching the quarter-finals, has tied its highest placing ever in 11th, up from 13th. The US team last sat in 11th before the 1998 World Cup. Rounding out the top 10 is Spain in fourth, up from eighth; World Cup finalist Germany in fifth, up from 11th; Mexico in sixth, up from seventh; Portugal in seventh, down from fifth; and England in eighth, up from 12th. At the bottom of the list, Bhutan jumped from 202nd - second to last place in the world - to 199th after beating Montserrat 4-0. Montserrat stays in last place, 203rd, with nine points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelgianBoy Posted July 4, 2002 Report Share Posted July 4, 2002 ... and Belgium goes to 19th place coming from 22nd spot....... Cheers ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hidy Ho Posted July 5, 2002 Report Share Posted July 5, 2002 a cut and paste job from fifa site ... ----------------------------------------- Meanwhile the compelling national squad from Korea Republic are this month?s Best Mover (22, up 18) as well as Asia?s top team for the second time since the end of 1998. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted July 5, 2002 Report Share Posted July 5, 2002 I can't really argue with America's 11th place ranking with one exception: Mexico. The US has dominated Mexico in its last several head to head matches. I would have Mexcio in at 11th and the US at 10th. The other teams could beat America 2 out of ever 3 times they played at the minimum if not 3 out of 3. Being too lazy to look up the rankings myself, I wonder where Senegal finished? I would love to see a freindly between America and England one day, hopefully soon. It would be a friendly in every sense of the word also. We'd lose but it would be nice to see the players I've watched in the Premiership do battle against Americans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racha Posted July 5, 2002 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2002 Steve; Senegal are in 31st place, Also FYI Arsenal are going to sign another French player Lille defender Pascal Cygan, Freddie Ljungberg and Robert Pires will both miss the start of the season... FIFA Top 20 1. Brazil 852 points 2. Argentina, France 784 4. Spain 774 5. Germany 765 6. Mexico 739 7. Portugal 731 8. England 728 9. Colombia 725 10. Italy 720 11. USA 712 12. Turkey 707 13. Denmark 704 14. Republic of Ireland 699 15. The Netherlands 697 16. Yugoslavia 689 17. Cameroon 680 18. Paraguay 679 19. Belgium 678 20. Sweden 674 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iuytrede Posted July 6, 2002 Report Share Posted July 6, 2002 "At the bottom of the list, Bhutan jumped from 202nd - second to last place in the world - to 199th after beating Montserrat 4-0. Montserrat stays in last place, 203rd, with nine points." One of the highlights of the history of footballwas the game Bhutan - Kuwait some years ago. Bhutan lost 0:20. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted July 6, 2002 Report Share Posted July 6, 2002 The irony of things, my Arsenal is dependent on the French! (lol) A fellow American who only barely follows soccer because he knows I'm interested commented that the few Americans that even know our rankings are secure in the fact that we are 11th in the world in a sport we don't even know. Also, that we think that if we really wanted to (meaning if our best athletes didn't play football or basketball), we could dominate. (I'm not too sure of that but I think we'd be top 5 possibly). And furthermore, we wouldn't stand for 11th if it was basketball or baseball or one of our 'main' American sports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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