No real change
The updates today to the FIFA rankings are minimal in Europe. This is because only Cyprus, Scotland and the Faroe Islands have played since the last update, although Italy and Serbia's game has now been taken into account. There are a lot of friendly matches and two Euro 2012 qualifying matches tonight, which will be considered on December 15th.
Biggest risers: Albania are up seven to 58th. They have not lost any places since August, when I first started tracking things. Nobody else has gained more than three places in the world rankings. However, Greece rise one place to 11th. Italy gain two places.
Biggest fallers: Wales fall seven to 111th. They're by far the worst of the British teams. Moldova and Macedonia each lose six places, and Cyprus lose five despite their draw with Jordan yesterday. Russia, who were briefly in the top 10, fall to thirteenth as Egypt get the number 10 slot. Serbia lose 3 places.
Showing posts with label wales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wales. Show all posts
20/10/2010
FIFA/Coca-Cola Rankings Adjustment October 2010
Armenia are amazing!
There is only one team in Europe that really stands out as improving, and one team that have really lost places. Here's the summary of what happened:
1. Armenia: +45 places following their two victories. They're up to 60th, and only just behind Scotland. This is their highest ever FIFA ranking!
2. Russia: +15 places thanks to their defeats of Israel and Macedonia. Up to 10th!
3. Montenegro: Montenegro: +14 places to 26th. They did fantastically well in group G, having defeated all their opponents except England. Once England have played against Wales then they should be equal top of the group.
4. Azerbaijan: They defeated Turkey, and so deserve an 11 place improvement to 91st. Turkey, meanwhile, fall 8 places to 29th, as they gained no points over the qualifiers.
5. France and Italy: France finally start to rise in rank again. They've stopped losing, and that's helping change their average points back where they should be. Italy have dropped points after a draw with Northern Ireland, and the abandoned match gives no points.
6. Greece: This team seems attached to twelfth. They have not moved at all since I started keeping track of the ranks, and the last time they changed position was in June when they came up one place from thirteenth.
7. Scotland: They were the UK's second team, but luck for Northern Ireland has lost the Scots position. It's entirely unfair for them to be drawn against Spain, and they played a good game. But playing well doesn't count for any points, so they remain third in the UK (fourth including Ireland).
8. Wales: At least Scotland aren't Wales, who finally start losing position. They're down into the 100s now, having lost 20 places to go 105th.
9. Israel: They've gone down 20 places as well. Israel have strange form, sometimes being better and sometimes worse. Their home league isn't that bad, so it's hard to know what's up internationally.
10. Cyprus: Who knows what is happening with Cyprus? They drew 4-4 with Portugal, but now have such bad form they drop 45 places to 88th! Their performance is even less understandable than Israel's.
11. Central African Republic: Not a European team, which is why I saved them till last. I predicted they'd rise, but not by this much! Sixty places up to 112th makes them the fastest-rising team in the world. Fellow Africans Niger also rose well, with 54 places, to go 100th.
There is only one team in Europe that really stands out as improving, and one team that have really lost places. Here's the summary of what happened:
1. Armenia: +45 places following their two victories. They're up to 60th, and only just behind Scotland. This is their highest ever FIFA ranking!
2. Russia: +15 places thanks to their defeats of Israel and Macedonia. Up to 10th!
3. Montenegro: Montenegro: +14 places to 26th. They did fantastically well in group G, having defeated all their opponents except England. Once England have played against Wales then they should be equal top of the group.
4. Azerbaijan: They defeated Turkey, and so deserve an 11 place improvement to 91st. Turkey, meanwhile, fall 8 places to 29th, as they gained no points over the qualifiers.
5. France and Italy: France finally start to rise in rank again. They've stopped losing, and that's helping change their average points back where they should be. Italy have dropped points after a draw with Northern Ireland, and the abandoned match gives no points.
6. Greece: This team seems attached to twelfth. They have not moved at all since I started keeping track of the ranks, and the last time they changed position was in June when they came up one place from thirteenth.
7. Scotland: They were the UK's second team, but luck for Northern Ireland has lost the Scots position. It's entirely unfair for them to be drawn against Spain, and they played a good game. But playing well doesn't count for any points, so they remain third in the UK (fourth including Ireland).
8. Wales: At least Scotland aren't Wales, who finally start losing position. They're down into the 100s now, having lost 20 places to go 105th.
9. Israel: They've gone down 20 places as well. Israel have strange form, sometimes being better and sometimes worse. Their home league isn't that bad, so it's hard to know what's up internationally.
10. Cyprus: Who knows what is happening with Cyprus? They drew 4-4 with Portugal, but now have such bad form they drop 45 places to 88th! Their performance is even less understandable than Israel's.
11. Central African Republic: Not a European team, which is why I saved them till last. I predicted they'd rise, but not by this much! Sixty places up to 112th makes them the fastest-rising team in the world. Fellow Africans Niger also rose well, with 54 places, to go 100th.
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.
03/09/2010
Euro 2012 Qualification: 3/9/2010 Results
There are always surprises
These matches will be summarized properly after the Tuesday games, when I will go over each group and the points scored in individual posts. However, here are the surprises of Friday's football:
1. Northern Ireland (59) beat Slovenia (19) giving them 1357.5 FIFA points, which is the most points achieved today by a team.
2. Belarus (78) beat France (21) giving them 1342.5 points. This would be more spectacular if France had not done so badly in the World Cup and had several players banned for today's game.
3. Georgia (110) drew with Greece (12) 1-1! Greece are an odd team who sometimes do well, and sometimes badly.
4. Cyprus (63) scored well against Portugal (8), and ended up drawing 4-4! That's going to hit Portugal hard.
5. Moldova (89) beat Finland (51) 2-0!
In the British Isles (including the Republic of Ireland) there were some good games. Only Wales lost, and England's Defoe scored a hat-trick against Bulgaria. England have now matched their home games winning streak record of 11 games. In total 55 goals were scored today.
Tuesday: More international football.
Next weekend: F1 from Italy, and the Barclays Premier League.
These matches will be summarized properly after the Tuesday games, when I will go over each group and the points scored in individual posts. However, here are the surprises of Friday's football:
1. Northern Ireland (59) beat Slovenia (19) giving them 1357.5 FIFA points, which is the most points achieved today by a team.
2. Belarus (78) beat France (21) giving them 1342.5 points. This would be more spectacular if France had not done so badly in the World Cup and had several players banned for today's game.
3. Georgia (110) drew with Greece (12) 1-1! Greece are an odd team who sometimes do well, and sometimes badly.
4. Cyprus (63) scored well against Portugal (8), and ended up drawing 4-4! That's going to hit Portugal hard.
5. Moldova (89) beat Finland (51) 2-0!
In the British Isles (including the Republic of Ireland) there were some good games. Only Wales lost, and England's Defoe scored a hat-trick against Bulgaria. England have now matched their home games winning streak record of 11 games. In total 55 goals were scored today.
Tuesday: More international football.
Next weekend: F1 from Italy, and the Barclays Premier League.
14/08/2010
New Premier League Rules
Today the English (and Welsh) Premier League - one of the best football leagues in the world - kicks off. Naturally, I've been flicking through the handbook (PDF), inspired by an article in yesterday's Metro. It seems that a new rule is coming into effect this season to limit squad sizes.
Each team is limited to 25 over-21-year-old players, eight of which must be 'homegrown', although they are allowed more; that is, have been registered at an English or Welsh squad under the age of 21 for at least three years. The teams are also allowed an unlimited amount of under-21s.
I am not sure what happens if a squad has less than 25 over-21s available to them (for example Arsenal has only 22 over-21s, and Chelsea have 21). I believe that then they do not have to worry so much about the quota, but there is a limit of up to 17 foreign players (ie: who aren't 'homegrown'). So Chelsea, who only have five homegrown over-21s, are okay because they also only have 16 foreigners.
Probably a better way of wording the rule is: there are twenty-five squad places available. There is a limit of up to seventeen non-homegrown players on each squad, and under 21 players are not included in this count so a team can have as many as they like.
Manchester United are a big squad, with 43 players of which 15 are under 21s. There are fewer foreign players than Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal or Manchester City, and plenty of homegrown talent to choose from. However, some of the less-well-know homegrown players (they have 15 to choose from) may be lost.
Sources are: Metro, Premier League website.
Each team is limited to 25 over-21-year-old players, eight of which must be 'homegrown', although they are allowed more; that is, have been registered at an English or Welsh squad under the age of 21 for at least three years. The teams are also allowed an unlimited amount of under-21s.
I am not sure what happens if a squad has less than 25 over-21s available to them (for example Arsenal has only 22 over-21s, and Chelsea have 21). I believe that then they do not have to worry so much about the quota, but there is a limit of up to 17 foreign players (ie: who aren't 'homegrown'). So Chelsea, who only have five homegrown over-21s, are okay because they also only have 16 foreigners.
Probably a better way of wording the rule is: there are twenty-five squad places available. There is a limit of up to seventeen non-homegrown players on each squad, and under 21 players are not included in this count so a team can have as many as they like.
Manchester United are a big squad, with 43 players of which 15 are under 21s. There are fewer foreign players than Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal or Manchester City, and plenty of homegrown talent to choose from. However, some of the less-well-know homegrown players (they have 15 to choose from) may be lost.
Sources are: Metro, Premier League website.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)