Commentary
FIFA October rankings, what's the value of system that gave USA boost after exit?
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Oct 16, 2017
The United States was eliminated from the 2018 World Cup yet climbed one spot in the October FIFA Rankings released on Monday.
And the same October rankings are being used to seed teams for the 2018 World Cup draw Dec. 1 in Moscow.
The USA is now ranked No. 27 in the world. It's one of seven teams ranked in the top 32 in the world that have already been eliminated from the 32-team World Cup.
At least three more and as many as five more teams ahead of the USA won't advance out of the UEFA playoffs so the along with the four teams ahead of it that have been eliminated -- Chile, Wales, Netherlands and Slovakia -- the USA would have ranked somewhere around 19th, which would have put it in Pot 3, if it qualified.
The big news in the October rankings was that France overtook Spain for the seventh and last place in Pot 1 -- the top seeds -- along with Russia.
Host Russia will be the lowest ranked team in the tournament if Honduras and New Zealand lose their playoffs.
Besides Spain, England and Italy (if it qualifies) are in Pot 2. Mexico is also a top 15 team among the teams headed to Russia.
Q=qualified;
P=playoff;
A=alive in African qualifying
E=eliminated;
World Cup seeds:
65. Host Russia
1. (Q) Germany
2. (Q) Brazil
3. (Q) Portugal
4. (Q) Argentina
5. (Q) Belgium
6. (Q) Poland
7. (Q) France
----------------------------
8. (Q) Spain
9. (E) Chile
10. (P) Peru
11. (P) Switzerland
12. (Q) England
13. (Q) Colombia
14. (E) Wales
15. (P) Italy
16. (Q) Mexico
17. (Q) Uruguay
18. (P) Croatia
19. (P) Denmark
20. (E) Netherlands
21. (Q) Iceland
22. (Q) Costa Rica
23. (P) Northern Ireland
24. (E) Slovakia
25. (P) Sweden
26. (P) Ireland
27. (E) USA
28. (A) Tunisia
29. (E) Scotland
30. (Q) Egypt
30. (E) Ukraine
32. (A) Senegal
33. (E) Turkey
34. (Q) Iran
35. (A) Congo DR
36. (E) Paraguay
36. (E) Bulgaria
38. (Q) Serbia
39. (E) Austria
40. (E) Bosnia & Herzegovina
41. (Q) Nigeria
42. (E) Cameroon
43. (P) Australia
44. (Q) Japan
45. (E) Romania
46. (E) Czech Republic
47. (P) Greece
48. (A) Morocco
49. (Q) Panama
50. (E) Bolivia
54. (A) Burkina Faso
64. (A) Cape Verde Islands
74. (A) South Africa
61. (A) Ivory Coast
62. (Q) South Korea
63. (Q) Saudi Arabia
69. (P) Honduras
122. (P) New Zealand
6 comments about "FIFA October rankings, what's the value of system that gave USA boost after exit?".
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The answer to your question is none. The old system of using results from the last 3 (?) WCs is better. It was based on real performance instead of a deeply flawed formula.
The reason is that there is a delay in publishing the rankings. They are not updated day to day. Only monthly. Any reporter/ writer would know that. The rankings are pretty accurate according to games played and opponents. Just using WC qualifying matches, how would you rank the teams? If they qualify they all have a chance to win the WC. According to your logic they would all be number 1 then.
Since the US missed the World Cup, don't be surprised to see the US ranked 50th again. Folks, US socccer is headed back to the early 80s.
As Ed said, the ratings are fair... With today's automation there is little justification for monthly updates. On the other hand losing one game should necessarly change/drop you. Yeah losing to #99 while being kicked out of the WC is no complement. USA will probably drop more BUT will be back.
Argentina barely qualifies and ranked #4-hilarious......fortunately the politics all gets removed by the semis.......
Ahem, when Clemson gets knocked out of second place in the rankings and everyone below moves up one, is that saying anything about the ones who moved up one, OR is that all about Clemson having a bad loss?
Those who who don't understand the limitations of a ranking or the nature of how they only update periodically shouldn't be ripping the rankings. And just because you can change your opinions quicker than the rankings update. doesn't mean you are smarter than the rankings.