Posted on 07/11/2004 12:01:52 AM PDT by Central Scrutiniser
U.S. Reaches All-Time High Seventh in FIFA World Rankings
CHICAGO (July 7, 2004) - Two months after climbing back into the Top 10 in the FIFA World Rankings, the U.S. Men’s National Team continued its climb up the ladder, by moving up two notches to their highest ranking ever at seventh, ahead of such powerhouses as England, Italy, Argentina and Germany.
This is the 16th time the U.S. has been ranked in the Top 10 since breaking in for the first time in August of 2002 after their remarkable quarterfinal run in the 2002 World Cup. The U.S. dropped out of the Top 10 in September of 2003 and moved between 11th and 12th for the next seven months before finally jumping up to eighth in May of this year after a dominating 1-0 performance against then fourth-ranked Mexico on April 28 in Dallas. The U.S. then dropped to ninth in June, before making the two-spot leap to seventh.
While there was no change in the top three, with Brazil still leading the pack ahead of France and Spain, July’s rankings saw significant moves in the top 20 due to strong showings in EURO 2004. A semifinal run pushed the Czech Republic up seven spots to fourth and the new European champion Greece shooting up to 14th, 21 spots beyond their location just one month ago. Portugal also made a significant move up the ladder with a second-place finish, moving 10 spots to 12th, while their quarterfinal opponent England moved up five spots to 8th.
While rival Mexico sits one spot ahead of the USA, other CONCACAF teams made some significant moves as Trinidad & Tobago (63rd), Cuba (66th), Panama (106th), and St. Kitts and Nevis (108th) all moved up 12 or more spots.
The U.S. Men's National Team is next in action on July 11 against Poland at Chicago's Soldier Field (6 p.m. CT on ESPN2), the team's final preparation match before the semifinal round of FIFA World Cup qualifying, which opens in Jamaica on Aug. 18. The six-game, round robin group continues with the U.S. at home on Sept. 4 in Foxboro, Mass., against El Salvador, and on the road on Sept. 8 in Panama. The four-team group concludes with a road game on Oct. 10 (El Salvador) and then consecutive home games on Oct. 13 (Panama) and Nov. 17 in Columbus, Ohio (Jamaica).
Eric
Good news for our guys, Poland on Sunday!
I've never understood why other countries want us to take up soccer. With the profound financial and athletic resources which the United States possesses, it would stand a serious threat to utterly dominate the sport of soccer if it actually devoted significant effort. What fun would that be?
I agree. We don't need to be champions, although that would help. But I'd like it if we can routinely beat the French, Germans, and Mexico.
Soccer is a beautiful sport, the more you watch, the more you are hooked. Good to see our boys do well. I usually get some wrath when I am abroad, but I get the other nation's fans to reluctantly agree that we are only gonna get better and they are gonna eventually fall to us. Pisses them off big time!
I'm on that same wavelength. Soccer bores the heck out of me (as a spectator, anyway), but it's not boring at all to watch the evil USA beat the pants off of haughty "football"-worshipping Euroweenies.
I don’t know much about the sport, end up watching it a bit because I don’t really have a choice. Did really enjoy the world cup, people were getting real nervous when the US keep winning.
When it looked like the US might end up playing England, I was joking with a friend from there that the US could win. He stated, and he was not kidding, he would leave the country (Taiwan) rather than face the ribbing.
Why do they hate us? Because they fear our soccer team!
The day US wins the World Cup (which is not far away), is the day you want to have your money invested in Eli Lilly, whose international Prozac sales will go 15x overnight.
Cue up the Match Tracker at U.S. Soccer
Cue up the Match Tracker at U.S. Soccer
I hate it when that happens.
Yeah, right. America are really better than England, Italy, Argentina and Germany.
Nice idea, Eric but I don't think that's something the football world will have to worry about unduly.
America is most successful competing in "world series" where the rest of the world isn't invited. Or playing "sports" no one else is interested in, like the one that stops for commercial breaks every five minutes, in which padded-up fat people run into each other.
Must be the same people who do the BCS rankings for college football that do the FIFA rankings.
I assumed the rankings were assessed by the blind referee who disallowed England's winning goal against Portugal in the quarter finals.
Don't get me wrong, I would love it if the US was really that good, but I've watched them and I'm sorry, I just don't see it. They're certainly much better than before, but they don't look to me even to be in the same category as the elite teams. Sure they beat Mexico pretty much every time now, but Mexico is also badly overrated as well.
On the other hand, there is hope - who would have expected Greece to win the European Championships?
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