As promised, FIFA's ranks were updated today. I was probably a bit optimistic with some of my predictions. Here's what actually happened:
Biggest movers upwards:
Liechtenstein - this tiny nation were massively boosted over the last month, jumping 10 places to 148. This is still seven places lower than where they were in August, and comes thanks to their draw with Estonia.
Bosnia and Herzegovina - up 7 places thanks to a win over Slovakia and a draw with Poland. They're now ranked 44 in the world, and 13 places over their August rank.
Up five - Belgium (57), Georgia (73), Israel (50) and Malta (164). Georgia are continuing their rise from the bottom of the table, rather more sedately than Montenegro's. Israel, Malta and Belgium, however, all have lower positions than their August ranks.
Up four - Finland (83), which is still rubbish when you consider they were 32 positions higher in August.
Up three - Austria (46), Cyprus (90) and France (18). France, having beaten England, are starting to get back in order and returning to their usual position. Austria have also done well, rising 14 positions since August. Cyprus... well, their 2010 has been all over the place, with dramatic rises and falls.
Biggest movers downwards:
Lithuania - they've been up slightly, but now have lost out, returning to approximately their August position. In their game over the last month, they were beaten by Hungary.
Estonia - down 8, a disappointing drop for the Estonians who drew with Liechtenstein. But they're still up on their August position.
Azerbaijan - they had some good rises in position since August, but have now started dropping again. They're down 8, but still up overall.
Albania - much like Azerbaijan, it's the first drop after a run of rises. So they're still up on their August ranking.
Down 5 - Latvia (78) and Faroe Islands (136). It's just another drop in the series for unlucky Latvia, who were 49 in August. As for the Faroes, they didn't play in November/December as their friendly was just before the previous calculation.
Down 4 - Ireland (36), Romania (56). Ireland's is no change overall since August, but Romania continue to drop.
Showing posts with label estonia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label estonia. Show all posts
15/12/2010
13/10/2010
Euro 2012 Qualification: 13/10/2010 Results
The best UK team this weekend was Northern Ireland, with two draws, although they should have done better against the Faroe Islands. The worst team was Wales, who had two losses - to Montenegro and Switzerland. Scotland also had two losses, but they did too well against Spain to be the worst UK team this weekend. England barely scrape ahead of Scotland, as they should have done better against Montenegro.
Most unexpected result: Azerbaijan 1 – 0 Turkey. Surprising because Azerbaijan are 102nd in the world to Turkey's 21st. This is Azerbaijan's first win of Euro 2012 qualifying after losses against Germany and Austria. Turkey are suffering their second loss this weekend after Germany on Friday, but beat Begium and Kazakhstan previously.
Most predictable result: Armenia 4 – 0 Andorra. I'd have gone for the San Marino game, but they didn't get quite as bad a score as usual, since they were playing against Moldova. Actually, since the gap is smaller for Armenia and Andorra, San Marino are doing better than their fellow poor-scorers.
Most embarrassing result: Estonia 0 – 1 Slovenia. The only goal in this game was an Estonian own goal. Funnily enough, Serbia scored an own goal against Estonia on Friday, which got them the most embarrassing result for that round of qualification matches.
Most promising result: France 2 – 0 Luxembourg. France are winning again. Okay, Luxembourg are easy, but they also beat Romania. Perhaps they can start rising in the ranks again.
Most unusual result: Italy – Serbia. They're taking two of the 'awards tonight'. An abandonment counts as an unusual result in anyone's book. For completed games. This goes to Belgium 4 – 4 Austria, who are only one place apart in the FIFA rankings. This pair of Western European countries kept their fans excited to the end, with first one then the other team getting ahead. Two goals were scored in extra time – one by each team!
Cleanest game: Netherlands 4 – 1 Sweden. It was a toss-up between three games, but the Netherlands got it because of their improved form since the World Cup final.
Dirtiest game: Italy - Serbia. And it was the fans, not the players, who made this game dirty. Serbian fans, to be precise. They had already clashed with Italian police, and continued their poor behaviour at the stadium. As the players were emerging onto the pitch, some Serbian hooligans set off fireworks and threw flares onto the pitch. The players had to return to their dressing rooms as Italian riot cops confronted the fans. The match eventually started 40 minutes late, after a nasty booing of the Serbian national anthem by the Italian fans. After a mere seven minutes it was abandoned by the Scottish referee. Terrible! Why do British referees always get the bad games?
Most unexpected result: Azerbaijan 1 – 0 Turkey. Surprising because Azerbaijan are 102nd in the world to Turkey's 21st. This is Azerbaijan's first win of Euro 2012 qualifying after losses against Germany and Austria. Turkey are suffering their second loss this weekend after Germany on Friday, but beat Begium and Kazakhstan previously.
Most predictable result: Armenia 4 – 0 Andorra. I'd have gone for the San Marino game, but they didn't get quite as bad a score as usual, since they were playing against Moldova. Actually, since the gap is smaller for Armenia and Andorra, San Marino are doing better than their fellow poor-scorers.
Most embarrassing result: Estonia 0 – 1 Slovenia. The only goal in this game was an Estonian own goal. Funnily enough, Serbia scored an own goal against Estonia on Friday, which got them the most embarrassing result for that round of qualification matches.
Most promising result: France 2 – 0 Luxembourg. France are winning again. Okay, Luxembourg are easy, but they also beat Romania. Perhaps they can start rising in the ranks again.
Most unusual result: Italy – Serbia. They're taking two of the 'awards tonight'. An abandonment counts as an unusual result in anyone's book. For completed games. This goes to Belgium 4 – 4 Austria, who are only one place apart in the FIFA rankings. This pair of Western European countries kept their fans excited to the end, with first one then the other team getting ahead. Two goals were scored in extra time – one by each team!
Cleanest game: Netherlands 4 – 1 Sweden. It was a toss-up between three games, but the Netherlands got it because of their improved form since the World Cup final.
Dirtiest game: Italy - Serbia. And it was the fans, not the players, who made this game dirty. Serbian fans, to be precise. They had already clashed with Italian police, and continued their poor behaviour at the stadium. As the players were emerging onto the pitch, some Serbian hooligans set off fireworks and threw flares onto the pitch. The players had to return to their dressing rooms as Italian riot cops confronted the fans. The match eventually started 40 minutes late, after a nasty booing of the Serbian national anthem by the Italian fans. After a mere seven minutes it was abandoned by the Scottish referee. Terrible! Why do British referees always get the bad games?
08/10/2010
Euro 2012 Qualification: 8/10/2010 results
UEFA have drastically updated their MatchCentre to display the matches far more sensibly. I won't go into the changes, but let's just say it is much simpler to use and has much less scrolling! It also now displays team statistics, including results and averages of previous games between the two sides.
My complaints would be first that it is still not updated very well as the match goes on. It can take some time to get the 'live' results appearing, and corrections often have to be made so you can't trust what it says. [Portugal's own goal was originally credited to one of the Danish players]
Secondly, in the statistics section there are red (home) and blue (away) bars to show how many goals, cards, shots etc. each team has had. But while some of these are positive, others are negative. It can therefore be hard to see which team is dominating a game – if a team has a good number of shots but a low number of cards, it looks like an even game, but a good number of shots and high number of cards looks like a dominated game.
Most Unexpected Result: Armenia 3 – 1 Slovakia. Surprising because Armenia are 89 points lower in rank than Slovakia, who were in the World Cup!
Most Expected Result: Hungary 8 – 0 San Marino. Because San Marino are... one of the worst international football teams in the world.
Most Embarrassing Result: Serbia 1 – 3 Estonia. Serbia helped Estonia to their victory with an own goal in extra time at the end of the second half. This was the first of two own goals scored today.
Most Promising Result: Northern Ireland 0 – 0 Italy. Holding Italy to a scoreless draw is fantastic for any team. Northern Ireland would have no shame in losing to Italy, but drawing shows that their victory against Slovenia was not a fluke result. More importantly, Northern Ireland are the only team in the British Isles who didn't lose tonight! (England weren't playing; Ireland lost to Russia; Wales lost to Bulgaria; Scotland lost to the Czech Republic)
Most Unusual Result: Portugal 3 – 1 Denmark. Why Unusual? Portugal scored all the goals! At least they managed to win despite this.
Cleanest Game: Spain 3 – 1 Lithuania; Moldova 0 – 1 Netherlands; Northern Ireland 0 – 0 Italy. No cards of any kind. Spain continue the way they were going in the World Cup before the final (they were the only team to get no cards in the group stages). However, it's a very clean game for the Dutch. And Northern Ireland earn more kudos for not getting any cards against Italy, who have been known in the past to dive.
Dirtiest Game: Wales 0 – 1 Bulgaria. In this awful game one Welsh player – defender Chris Gunter (Nottingham Forest) – got a straight red card. His teammate Sam Ricketts (Bolton) got a yellow, as did four Bulgarian players including another Bolton player.
My complaints would be first that it is still not updated very well as the match goes on. It can take some time to get the 'live' results appearing, and corrections often have to be made so you can't trust what it says. [Portugal's own goal was originally credited to one of the Danish players]
Secondly, in the statistics section there are red (home) and blue (away) bars to show how many goals, cards, shots etc. each team has had. But while some of these are positive, others are negative. It can therefore be hard to see which team is dominating a game – if a team has a good number of shots but a low number of cards, it looks like an even game, but a good number of shots and high number of cards looks like a dominated game.
Most Unexpected Result: Armenia 3 – 1 Slovakia. Surprising because Armenia are 89 points lower in rank than Slovakia, who were in the World Cup!
Most Expected Result: Hungary 8 – 0 San Marino. Because San Marino are... one of the worst international football teams in the world.
Most Embarrassing Result: Serbia 1 – 3 Estonia. Serbia helped Estonia to their victory with an own goal in extra time at the end of the second half. This was the first of two own goals scored today.
Most Promising Result: Northern Ireland 0 – 0 Italy. Holding Italy to a scoreless draw is fantastic for any team. Northern Ireland would have no shame in losing to Italy, but drawing shows that their victory against Slovenia was not a fluke result. More importantly, Northern Ireland are the only team in the British Isles who didn't lose tonight! (England weren't playing; Ireland lost to Russia; Wales lost to Bulgaria; Scotland lost to the Czech Republic)
Most Unusual Result: Portugal 3 – 1 Denmark. Why Unusual? Portugal scored all the goals! At least they managed to win despite this.
Cleanest Game: Spain 3 – 1 Lithuania; Moldova 0 – 1 Netherlands; Northern Ireland 0 – 0 Italy. No cards of any kind. Spain continue the way they were going in the World Cup before the final (they were the only team to get no cards in the group stages). However, it's a very clean game for the Dutch. And Northern Ireland earn more kudos for not getting any cards against Italy, who have been known in the past to dive.
Dirtiest Game: Wales 0 – 1 Bulgaria. In this awful game one Welsh player – defender Chris Gunter (Nottingham Forest) – got a straight red card. His teammate Sam Ricketts (Bolton) got a yellow, as did four Bulgarian players including another Bolton player.
11/08/2010
Euro 2012 Qualifying: EST vs FRO summary
FIFA World Ranking points
Remember the formula? In this case, I=2.5 as it's a continental qualifier, and C=1 for all the Euro 2012 matches.
For Estonia, T (strength of opponent) = (200-118)/100 = 0.82, and for the Faroe Islands, T=1.06.
Since the match was a victory for Estonia, they get 2.5*82*3=615 points, and Faroe Islands get no points.
Match summary
The Faroe Islands started well, scoring a goal through Edmundsson in the 28th minute. It didn't stop him getting booked, however, with three yellow cards for his team in the first half. Estonia, meanwhile, also had opportunities on goal, but were less violent in their challenges. It's not easy to tell exactly which team played better when you can only read the UEFA MatchCentre commentary – which is nowhere near as good as FIFA's MatchCast from the World Cup.
In the second half, there were an incredible two last-minute goals from Estonia's Saag and several substitutions. Faroe Islands received a fourth yellow card. The game ended 2-1 to Estonia.
Remember the formula? In this case, I=2.5 as it's a continental qualifier, and C=1 for all the Euro 2012 matches.
For Estonia, T (strength of opponent) = (200-118)/100 = 0.82, and for the Faroe Islands, T=1.06.
Since the match was a victory for Estonia, they get 2.5*82*3=615 points, and Faroe Islands get no points.
Match summary
The Faroe Islands started well, scoring a goal through Edmundsson in the 28th minute. It didn't stop him getting booked, however, with three yellow cards for his team in the first half. Estonia, meanwhile, also had opportunities on goal, but were less violent in their challenges. It's not easy to tell exactly which team played better when you can only read the UEFA MatchCentre commentary – which is nowhere near as good as FIFA's MatchCast from the World Cup.
In the second half, there were an incredible two last-minute goals from Estonia's Saag and several substitutions. Faroe Islands received a fourth yellow card. The game ended 2-1 to Estonia.
Euro 2012 Qualifying: EST vs FRO preview
Team: Estonia
World (European) Rank: 94 (43)
Players: 24
Team: Faroe Islands
World (European) Rank: 118 (48)
Players: 20
In European rank, these teams aren't much different, but world rank places them much further apart. While the Faroe Islanders have chosen sixteen players from their local league, the Estonians have mostly selected from abroad, with only three of their twenty-four playing in Estonia. Two of the squad members, however, are not signed up with any club.
This islanders are managed by Republic of Ireland footballer Brian Kerr, who previously managed his home side (but didn't get them into Euro 2008).
According to the UEFA website, Estonia's record against the Faroe Islands is won three, drawn one, lost one. I'm predicting them to win again this time, especially since it's a home game.
Edited for new FIFA rankings (Aug 11) and correct FIFA Trigramme for Faroe Islands
World (European) Rank: 94 (43)
Players: 24
Team: Faroe Islands
World (European) Rank: 118 (48)
Players: 20
In European rank, these teams aren't much different, but world rank places them much further apart. While the Faroe Islanders have chosen sixteen players from their local league, the Estonians have mostly selected from abroad, with only three of their twenty-four playing in Estonia. Two of the squad members, however, are not signed up with any club.
This islanders are managed by Republic of Ireland footballer Brian Kerr, who previously managed his home side (but didn't get them into Euro 2008).
According to the UEFA website, Estonia's record against the Faroe Islands is won three, drawn one, lost one. I'm predicting them to win again this time, especially since it's a home game.
Edited for new FIFA rankings (Aug 11) and correct FIFA Trigramme for Faroe Islands
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