I guess I wasn’t the only bemused spectator – apparently Team USA themselves were rather embarrassed by the way their improved local performance (against Caribbean islands) had suddenly put them within close range of the world no. 1 spot.

The Elo system is far more accurate, even over a relatively short term. It doesn’t give CONCACAF equal weighting to everyone outside UEFA and CONMEBO, and suggest that the Caribbean and Oceania confederations are 85% as strong as UEFA. And it doesn’t give a ridiculously high weighting to the FIFA ‘Confederations Cup’ which most people haven’t even heard of, let alone watched.

In Short: FIFA = Blatter = Money = Coca Cola = Crap (though Coke is good with lemon and ice on a warm day).

Can we have our ball back, Sepp?

In the list above, Ireland refers to the Republic.

Northern Ireland is presently ranked 68th in the Elo System:

http://eloratings.net/Nthrn_Irelnd.htm

Max:

In the Elo system, results are based more upon a longer time line than the FIFA rankings. “Ratings tend to converge on a team’s true strength relative to its competitors after about 30 matches.”

Conversely, FIFA used to take into account the last eight years, but now uses the previous four. That might explain why Israel is ranked much higher in the FIFA system. Denmark won the Euro in 1992, and has a long history of international play. That may also explain a much higher ranking in Elo compared to FIFA. If I recall correctly, the Danes were about 12th or 13th during the last WC in the Elo system, and as you know, they didn’t qualify.

Thank you for your comments.