Freaking Copa America

By: Martha | July 18th, 2007

Azzurri boyz Because they’ve been out playing competitive matches and reaching the final of major(ish) tournaments while the Azzurri have been lying on beaches in posh resorts tanning (or hanging around in various American cities, the weirdos), both Argentina and Brazil have passed Italy in FIFA’s World Rankings. The result is that, despite not having dropped a point since the last ranking, Italy dropped two places and are now third in the list, above France, Germany and Holland in that order.

For some reason by the brilliant invention that is FIFA math, last year’s World Cup matches have suddenly lost 50% of their value, which goes a long way towards explaining the ascendancy of the South American nations. Frankly, with that being the case it’s quite an impressive accomplishment by the Europeans that they kept Mexico, who reached the Gold Cup final, back in 10th (up six spots from the last list).

For those of you who like numbers, the biggest losers this round were Switzerland (down 20 spots to 45th), Ghana (down 18 to 37th) and Ivory Coast (down 11 to 31st), while Peru (up 14 to 50th), Venezuela (also up 14, to 56th) and a trio of Asian nations (Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, all still outside the top 100 but climbing rabidly) have taken advantage of recent tournaments to signifcantly raise their stock. Don’t sleep on Thailand, ya’ll. That’s all I’m saying.

Some Related Serie A Posts:

Category: Azzurri, Rumors & News, Serie A

« The Wrath of ~~Khan~~ Fra | Home | The Latest Calciopoli Twist: Banned for Purity »

k

yes!! i do love hate-blatter/FIFA fests... this guy is the most moronic person they could have hired to lead fifa... seriously, do they have a team that scour the earth for the dumbest, absolutely thickest, ridiculously mindless idiot to become president of the biggest organization in world football?! i think its some kind of disturbing experiment to see how much people love and believe in the sport to be willing deal with the quite possibly the most incompetant person in the world as the president of its main organization..
Martha

Now that Beckham's arrived, though, Mike, all of the US will immediately not only love, but understand the game! I don't know about you, but I just can't wait. Sigh.

(And The Offside was invented post-World Cup, I think, as spin-off of Boots n All's World Cup blogs; we all showed up a little tardy for this part.)
Mike

ps: where was TheOffside during the WC? I would have loved to vent and exalt about anything and everything World Cup on these beautiful pages; too bad I didn't know you guys back then.
Mike

What really got me angry was the complete journalistic irresponsibility that the ESPN broadcasters revealed. They treated USA's group as an easy one, and felt that an "inexperienced" Ghana, an "old" Czech Republic, and a "lazy" Italy would not be too much of a problem for the US. Being optimistic is one thing, but to say that US is expected to place 1st/2nd from that group (THE group of death) is just plain ignorant.

I'd love to see the US team do well, but it's not the player's fault that the media are all idiots.

...Except for precious International Superstar Landycakes Landon Donovan, who can be blamed for severing his own genitalia; I remember him stating before WC06 that his boy Eddie Johnson would be the top goal scorer for the WC. You would think the kid is a newbie to the sport, from all the stupid shit that comes out of his mouth.
chris g

You're in the minority when it comes to Joe Buck hating. Obviously he's hated by all corners of the globe. But most people actually hate him for the shit that comes out of his mouth. He's a turd.
Martha

John, Jeff Gordon is a brilliant pic -- I think he's got an outside chance at the Euro 2008 title, to be honest.
Martha

WHAT? I've been avoiding ESPN in HD all these years for nothing?! Damn. (Actually he just scares me off of HD in general. My brother has a huge tv with all kinds of HD TV, and the sight of Joe Buck on it scarred me for life. And he's from Tha Lou, too. I should be more appreciative.)
chris g

(psst. hey martha. over here. joe buck is on fox. shhh. don't tell anyone i told you)
john

You guys will get a kick out of this:

http://msn.foxsports.com/socce...

The comments are priceless. I think FIFA rankings are ludicrous, no question. Were they to matter or make sense in ANY way, the idea that the US belongs in the top 20 is perhaps not SO far fetched an "opinion" but certainly gives cause to some chuckling. And it's more than a bit funny to read the comments of the US supporters getting outraged that anyone would question the arbitrary ranking of a squad that's mediocre, at best.
Perhaps it's just as funny that anyone would really get worked up about the rankings, in general. Makes me think I should make up my own. Here goes:

1. Botswana
2. The Bears
3. Jeff Gordon
4. Me
Martha

Mike: Nothing better than seeing the US crash and burn when the country (those who are paying attention) are filled with unreasonable expectations. Bonus: Landon pain and humiliation.

Also, two word reason I don't have ESPN HD: Joe. Buck.
Sofia

haha chris i must agree berlusconi isnt the sharpest tool in the shed but he tries...

i think you can have more than 1500 but im not sure the rules change by the minute with fifa in order to accomodate blatters favoured teams (aka to screw over italy)
chris g

Is the most points you can have 1500? And if not, why did Argentina get 103 points when Brazil got 16?

That's the type of math you see from Silvio Berlusconi.
Paolo

Don't forget there are Euro Qulaifiers still to be played plus the Euro 2008 Competition. Those will change again, while the Copa America Participants sit back and watch. But really what does it matter what number FIFA puts beside your name? You either have game or you don't.

Sidenote: I can't wait for the new Serie A campaign to start!
Mike

Before WC06 they had the US in the Top 10, maybe 8th.

Normally, FIFA making a ridiculous claim like this is not a big deal but last summer it turned out to be a catastrophe. With ESPN hiring even-less-informed broadcasters to complement the idiots they already had on staff, the FIFA rankings were taken seriously and used as a basis for judging how well the US team would do.

Needless to say it was a complete disaster. Not only were broadcaster expectations too high for the US, but they also failed to respect the difficulty of the US's group, which just made their mistakes that much worse.

And as much as I hate ESPN, I have to admit that football in HD letterbox is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
Sofia

haha well i didnt really pay too much attention to the copa america mostly because aregentinas team is like the employees of inter and so everyone knew they were gonna be in the final with brasil so whats the point of watcing... i have always known fifa was a joke but now i have proof that they are a joke haha
Mike

Copa America was fantastic this year, btw. My new favorite South American countries are Peru, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Lots of goals and not even a pretense of defense, but it WAS entertaining.

Also, Brazil's u21 team looks pretty good; they beat Argentina's A-team 3-0 in the final.
Mike

No one pays attention to these FIFA ranking anyways, so there's no reason to get upset about it.

FIFA's like the family uncle who always has a little too much wine during dinner and starts to say embarrassing things; no one likes it, but no one gets upset about it. Because hey, he's just a harmless prat.
Sofia

you dont even understand how pissed i am about this! pssh copa america worth more than world cup??? no way im sorry. copa america is basically set up for countries like brasil and argentina to win so how is that fair to the rest of the world. i hate fifa always have and always will. but its all good because in 2 months italy play and we will hopefully kick some frenchie ass!! and then some ukranian ass....i think...yeah i think thats right. anyway im trying to say screw you fifa!