Moooving on UP!

[evalagoal]

This is a great story from the FIFA.com website. This is what we should always read about our team(s) :tup: :tup: :tup: :gr: :gr:

Greece earn themselves an admirable gain (13th, up 5) - the European champions' best position since the World Ranking was introduced in 1993. Ukraine (49th, up 8) also turn on the heat to return to the top 50 alongside Switzerland (49th, up 2).

Lower down the ranks, Belarus (64th, up 4; their best ever position), Canada (85th, up 5) and Gabon (107th, up 5) all make admirable progress. The noteworthy defeat that St Vincent and the Grenadines (135th, up 3) inflicted on Caribbean giants Trinidad & Tobago earns them a valuable haul of points that is bettered only by Chad (160th, up 8).

All in all, 78 "A" internationals have been played this month, most of which (64) were friendlies, whereas the effects of qualifiers for confederation championships (2) and next year's World Cup (12) are barely felt.

The regional composition of the top 50 moves in favour of UEFA, which now represents half of the teams. The other confederations are represented as follows: CAF: 8 teams; AFC: 7 (down 1); CONMEBOL: 6; CONCACAF: 4; OFC: 0.

[Najs]

OH GREAT NEWS! :gr:

[NYC_Olympiakos]

it's nice recognition to be in the highest place since the intervention of Fifa standings but it's meaning less

USA is in 10th cause they had a good 2002 wc and have played nobody since then i care for on the field results lets just keep winning and go to the World Cup

[drakos13]

a good wc2002 = 3 years ago, didnt get to the semifinals, play crap caribean teams........

where as greece goes 15 straight undefeated (vs REAL TEAMS) first in there group, then goes on beats the hosts 2ce and the defending champions to take the European Cup........THESE RANKINGS ARE s%$#!. Even 13th is a joke. I have no respect for these rankings at all because they are ridiculous and inaccurate.

Look at Senegal too, who also made the quarterfinals of that same competition and made it to the african cup final too........they are behind Saudi Arabia who was the biggest joke of the tournament. This ratings have 0 substance and should be thrown out the window

[NYC_Olympiakos]

a good wc2002 = 3 years ago, didnt get to the semifinals, play crap caribean teams........

where as greece goes 15 straight undefeated (vs REAL TEAMS) first in there group, then goes on beats the hosts 2ce and the defending champions to take the European Cup........THESE RANKINGS ARE s%$#!. Even 13th is a joke. I have no respect for these rankings at all because they are ridiculous and inaccurate.

Look at Senegal too, who also made the quarterfinals of that same competition and made it to the african cup final too........they are behind Saudi Arabia who was the biggest joke of the tournament. This ratings have 0 substance and should be thrown out the window

one of the very few times we will have an agreement

like drakos said these standings are 0, meaningless and above all s%$#! !!!!!!!!!!

[Wallofsoccer88]

I'll add that as much of a USA fan I am, those rankings are 95% BS :rolleyes: . It's also irratiting watching the US sechdule 'weak' friendlies :angry: in preparation for qualification against Mexico (Colombia is OK, Honduras is pretty bad). They also won't play games in their own capital (DC) which sucks cuz that's the only time I could go to a game. DC United is the only real game in town. The CONCACAF region also sucks in general compared to UEFA (Cyprus could hold their own here :) ). Hell in WC 2002 Qualifiers, (my first real soccer game) I watched Honduras beat the USA 3-2 in Washington DC! Granted out of the 54000 fans there, 52000 were pro-Honduras so it was pretty much a home game for them (a fun one at that :D B). If the US played teams like Germany, Greece (would be unbelieveable), and some legit Euro teams (aside from 2nd rate teams like Poland), they'd could prove themselves, as the WC 2002 was a real fluke tournament with the shitty reffing (Byron Moreno from Ecuador, any game involving South Korea). Oh well, Greece should probably be in the top 10 with the US anywhere between 13-20.

[drakos13]

I watched Honduras beat the USA 3-2 in Washington DC! Granted out of the 54000 fans there, 52000 were pro-Honduras so it was pretty much a home game for them (a fun one at that :D B).

poland is a good team....

as for that game i was there too

Hon-du-ras!

[NYC_Olympiakos]

I'll add that as much of a USA fan I am, those rankings are 95% BS :rolleyes: . It's also irratiting watching the US sechdule 'weak' friendlies :angry: in preparation for qualification against Mexico (Colombia is OK, Honduras is pretty bad). They also won't play games in their own capital (DC) which sucks cuz that's the only time I could go to a game. DC United is the only real game in town. The CONCACAF region also sucks in general compared to UEFA (Cyprus could hold their own here :) ). Hell in WC 2002 Qualifiers, (my first real soccer game) I watched Honduras beat the USA 3-2 in Washington DC! Granted out of the 54000 fans there, 52000 were pro-Honduras so it was pretty much a home game for them (a fun one at that :D B). If the US played teams like Germany, Greece (would be unbelieveable), and some legit Euro teams (aside from 2nd rate teams like Poland), they'd could prove themselves, as the WC 2002 was a real fluke tournament with the shitty reffing (Byron Moreno from Ecuador, any game involving South Korea). Oh well, Greece should probably be in the top 10 with the US anywhere between 13-20.

i agree with everything your saying

except the part that WC 2002 was a fluke for the U.S.

reason being is that many people say the same of Greece winning the Euro cup

the U.S. played really hard and well and got timely goals

granted the tournament was fix till the final

but do remember the U.S. did play Germany in the final eight and should have been awarded a penalty kick and Germany should have had a red card b/c of a hand ball when the ball was clearly entering into the net

[Wallofsoccer88]

While I was posting on another topic, someone remided me about why the US can't get respect (or justify why it's so highly ranked):

We won't play in the Copa America :o :nono: :tdown:!

We've done it before (and are usually invited I think :unsure: ) and fared OK, and I think that it would be great for us if we really wanna get some respect (we don't have much). I mean they invite 2 CONCACAF teams and I think that we're easily the #1 or #2 team in our region (cept' Mexico, but we've owned them the past 6 or so games versus them). I figure the US could beat the bottom 5 teams South American teams with little trouble, and give everyone else a good run for their money. That and I know we beat Brazil once (98' CONCACAF Gold Cup/Championship) and I think Argentina too. Combine that with the fact that it's held only once every 4 years (to my knowledge :unsure:) when WC Qualifiers aren't going on make it seemingly a no brainer.

[drakos13]

i agree with everything your saying

except the part that WC 2002 was a fluke for the U.S.

reason being is that many people say the same of Greece winning the Euro cup

the U.S. played really hard and well and got timely goals

granted the tournament was fix till the final

but do remember the U.S. did play Germany in the final eight and should have been awarded a penalty kick and Germany should have had a red card b/c of a hand ball when the ball was clearly entering into the net

USA played great against Germany yes....

But u forgot about Mexico- true USA won 2-0 but that score was not representing the game. Mexico completly dominated that game, had no luck at all and wasnt given a 100% handball from Vanney (he fisted it away practically) and that would have made a huge impact in the game to tie it up so please dont tell me that means it would just be a 2-1 loss...

Also USA got killed by Poland, and beat Portugal because that was the sloppiest game in portuguese history- they were giving out gifts left and right + some luck ( US deserved the win no doubt but if you want to get hypothetical- donovan's cross from the wing, takes a deflection, goalkeeper gets a peice, then hits the post, then in......thats a 4x fluke goal) I think the USA deserved a run for there good work, but lets not joke and put them ahead of a european champion for a quarterfinal run 3 years ago.....

between calling it a fluke - greece was no fluke - there were a lot of signs that nobody paid attention to internationally (as usual) of improvements in greek football....there were a lot of signs the last couple years that we were very capable of doing something....

2000-01 we see PAO make it to the next round playing great games with Deportivo, thrashing Juventus sending them out, and a great match with Manchester that Sir Alex called the luckiest tie of his carreer.....greek football takes a step

2001-02, PAO makes it to the quarter finals and its obvious that there is some promising talent in greece - enough to propel a small club (relatively) to compete with the top in europe.... then with the Ethniki we see our first result with Otto- a crucial game for England in Manchester, and we practically beat England, it took them a free kick in the 93rd to tie....big result for Greece...2002-03 AEK goes undefeated in the Champions league......managing to pull comebacks vs giants like Roma and Real Madrid...more hints that theres somthing in Greece people arent paying attention too- PAO also beat the golden generation FC Porto away, but no luck in the return leg so goes history....that summer Greece becomes the first team in decades to beat spain at home in a qualifyer....then finishing out the group with 3 goals conceded and a 15 game unbeaten streak till the holland friendly........

its not that we were never good or promising, its just nobody paid attention to the fact that we had quality up and coming and we were organized and determined.....