Re: [nas] US Men rise to eighth inthe world in latest FIFA rankings

[Casbahman@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/19/2002 10:03:30 PM Pacific Daylight Time, larkho@ghgcorp.com writes:


> You betcha.  FIFA got lucky this one single time, and put us in exactly 
> the right spot.  I'm definitely not defending the ranking system as a 
> whole, just that we are indeed the 8th best team in the world.


There are several million people in Europe who would disagree with you.  But thanks, I needed good giggle after a tough day.  I think WC euphoria has gotten into your head.  No way we are the 8th best team in the world.

  
> Likewise, after WC98, we were overrated by the FIFA rankings.  I just 
> think it's strange that in this case, the USA placed 8th in BOTH the 
> World Cup, and in the FIFA rankings--what objective evidence is there to 
> the contrary?


I guess I didn't explain it well enough in my last email.  

FIFA Ranking = Best team overall
WC Championship = Best team over 7 games

What if we had not finished 8th?  What if we finished first?  Would we be the best team in the world?  Wait...I know your answer.  "You betcha!"

Let me try to argue this another way.  If we played Brazil, current world champions, and we beat them, would be now be considered the best in the world?  I mean, in your world a stretch of seven games is more indicative of quality than a year's worth of results.  So why wouldn't one game be just as valid?  

Of course it wouldn't, because maybe Brazil had a bad day.  Well, France had a bad tournament, much because they lost a key player.  So should they now have the rank of 32nd in the world?

> It obviously all depends on what you want any ranking system to 
> rank--current quality vs. long-term quality.  But it is utterly 
> incomprehensible to me that if Turkey, for example, had won the World 
> Cup, that many of y'all could with a straight face say the next day that 
> they're not the best team in the world.


Consider us both incomprehensibled.  It completely escapes me how you can come to the conclusion that you did.

I'm 
>  saying 
> this simply because we are still in the immediate wake of the World Cup 
> (you know, what used to be called the Football World Championship 
> because it determined the World Champions).



Oh...is that what it does?  

It determines the best team OVER A LIMITED STRETCH OF GAMES.  The shorter your stretch of games, the more likely that "the weird" will happen (i.e. Zidane injury).  

KNOCK...KNOCK...KNOCK...is this thing on?

Darrin