rankings

rankings

latest FIFA rankings have NZ dropping 18 places to 100 (based on matches played in the last few weeks, so the african friendlies and confed results)

hmmm

WE'RE STILL AHEAD OF FIJI THOUGH!!!1!!!11

the tanzanian loss and the botswana draw will have cost us points and rankings. im not sure that the ranking system takes into account whether games played home, away or at a neutral venue (someone might advise), but if not then probably not surprising we dropped points after having to play games away in Africa. fiji at 101, hot on our heels!

Based on our performance against SA we deserved to drop about 50 places.

Actually, I think 100 is about where we belong.

Out of the nations in the top 100, I think that we could have a chance in beating today, if today is a good day:

Uzbekistan
Cyprus
Zambia
Oman
Senegal
Moldova
Peru
Grenada
Iceland
Iraq
Syria

And that is being generous . . .

I should report that post as insulting. All of them teams would rape the All Whites and thats being generous.

What about these teams:
Jamaica
Cuba
Trinidad and Tobago?
Qatar

If Senegal are half of what they were at the 2002 world cup we wouldn't have much of a chance at all, and I couldn't see us beating Peru.

Looking at their stats, they are consistently strong with decent results against stronger teams.

Senegal ain't what they were in 2002, they got worse.

I based most of the teams on current form and whether they achieved consistent performance over the last 4 years.

Thats why I have said, if we played them on a "Good Day". They are higher ranked than us.

what about the more relevant teams like Bahrain and saudi arabi?  we are due to one of them in a few weeks time. Surely after the way the Iraq game went we stand a chance against them.

That's true - that's part of the problem of playing in OFC.

Peru and Cyprus are much better than us, if we played them in a competetive game we'd really struggle.

That is being very generous!

I am guessing what has really cost us ranking points is the loss against fiji in a competitive fixture (ie a world cup qualifier) A loss in a fixture like that against a team more lowly ranked than us is gonna cost more points than we gain in a draw against a reasonably closely ranked team (Iraq) in a competitive fixture.The Tanzania/ Botswana and Italy games probably had very little impact one way or the other.
Shauneboy2009-07-02 10:50:42

The thing is, that in order to climb the FIFA ranking ladder, we have to play more games in a year and against higher ranked opponents. We also have to give experience to the younger players and so will lose or draw those games.

How the FIFA points are given, it does not matter if we lose games when we have enough won games in a year because we don't lose points for a lost game (although it is a missed chance) but rather we gain points for games won. So if we aim to have enough games won per year (e.g. about at least 6) then we climb the ladder.

So the Fiji WCQ match was a missed chance to gain significant points rather than it cost us points.

Win or losing friendlies are much points involved so you see the top teams experimenting with weaker sides that occasionally gain some small points, but it prepares them for a meaningful match later on where they gain huge points. For me, I was a bit disappointed that we didn't win the Fiji game when we had the players to do so and that they were vital FIFA points. I don't think that we had any strong players on the bench to sub on when it didn't look like we were in control. Such things are good to practice substitution tactics by Ricki, because it should be just a full match kick around for all the squad players.

Iraq are not that good, they won the Asian Cup early last year because they had Jovian Veria as coach and he is in the same vein as Guus Hiddinks.

They perform adequately in the Confederation Cup because they used Bora Moravinic bunker counterattack tactics but as soon as you see them attacking using playmaker tactics, Bora tactics were out the door. They tired to playmake us, but we actually out did them in that game and should have won if we finished our shooting. As it is, Iraq has fallen to 95th and Bora has finish his short term contract.

What I am saying, is that Iraq is not a good team and in fact they are not even in the final two groups in the AFC's WCQ matches, and so are outside the top 10 AFC teams.

Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are 5th/6th placed AFC at the moment and so Iraq is not a good enough measure.

Look we are going to have a friendly against Iraq and they will not be playing good because they may not even have a coach and if they do, then it will be different to Bora's gameplan. So is this a good practice match? I do not think so.

Jordan is the other friendly match, but they play to a different style to Bahrain/Saudi Arabia. They are ranked 122 and just have been beaten by Bahrain 4-0 in Bahrain. So is this a good practice match? I do not think so.

As stated before Oman and UAE are very similar teams style to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Sure UAE is ranked 122 as same as Jordan but their style of play makes a difference (admittedly they have been getting worse of the 10 years) and Oman is 78th and is ranked just behind Bahrain in the continental rankings. They beat Iraq 4-0, beat Bahrain 2-0 and won after draw 0-0 a.e.t. PSO 6-5 against Saudi Arabia in the Gulf cup final.

So is UAE a good practice match? . . .well better than Jordan
Is Oman a good practice match? Much definitely as well as the fact that they could be even better than Bahrain or Saudi Arabia. They are also Gulf Cup winners and the in-form team in the middle east. A game against them would be ideal tbh.

Personally I would have an UAE game first and then a game against Oman rather than Jordan and Iraq. I think we sold ourselves short.

Even the Saudi Arabians have a game against Oman in mid August ahead of their game WCQ against Bahrain.

They will be not prepared than Bahrain going into their WCQ 1st leg in Bahrain. Bahrain has lost a WCQ 0-2 against Australia. They beat Iraq 3-1 and Japan 1-0 at home. One thing is certain, they always seem to score goals in most games (exclude.Japan, Australia) even when they are losing.

Tbh, I hope those teams will lose a bit of gas after their play-off games. In the friendlies at the end of last year, Saudi Arabia won 4-0 (2-0) against Bahrain and on the return leg of the friendly Bahrain won 1-0 (0-0). If we play Bahrain and draw, we would do well, as Australia only managed a 0-1 away win against them.

However, it is Saudi Arabia that I would not want to face in an away match. We need Bora Bunker counterattacking tactics then.

I think the ranking fairly reflects our poor ability on the international scene.  To be honest, I think the All Whites would struggle to finish mid-table over a season in the A-League - it would be an interesting experiment.

Saw that game - Australia were very, very lucky not to be 3/4 down heading into injury time, and then Bresciano scored in the injury time with pretty much Australia's only chance in the whole game. It was daylight robbery, even the Australians will tell you that.

Bahrain also have a guy who takes fantastic free kicks, if we end up playing them we'll have to be carefule not to give him many chances.

These rankings are NOT a true reflection of teams. There is NO way Australia are 16th. That is higher that any African team. No way.

scribbler2009-07-02 21:30:35

Australia will drop back in the rankings in the coming months - their WC qualifying campaign is over, and Europeans, South Americans and Africans get back into it in September and October.

Saw that game - Australia were very, very lucky not to be 3/4 down heading into injury time, and then Bresciano scored in the injury time with pretty much Australia's only chance in the whole game. It was daylight robbery, even the Australians will tell you that.

Bahrain also have a guy who takes fantastic free kicks, if we end up playing them we'll have to be carefule not to give him many chances.[/QUOTE]

There you go tigers - though the keeper probably should have done better on the first one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vge2O8dxPog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VthLzQFklfs