October 8, 2008 by admin
The Spanish Men’s National Team appears to have extended its lead over the rest of the world as it remained in first place for the fourth month in a row Wednesday.
Although Spain’s recent World Cup qualifying wins have come over weaker teams Armenia and Bosnia, the top ranking remained in tact. Second place Italy held its ground as well with qualifying wins over Georgia and Cyprus, and third place Germany managed to secure its ranking with its solid qualifying play.
The Brazilians managed to make a leap in the rankings despite a tie in qualifying play against Bolivia and a 5-0 win over Chile. Brazil jumped the Netherlands to secure the fourth place ranking.
Unfortunately for you United States fans, the Americans are nowhere to be found in the FIFA rankings this month…well, unless you take a look at the bottom end of the list!
1. (1) Spain
2. (2) Italy
3. (3) Germany
4. (6) Brazil
5. (4) Netherlands
6. (5) Croatia
7. (7) Argentina
8. (8) Czech Republic
9. (12) Russia
10. (9) Portugal
11. (11) France
12. (14) Cameroon
13. (10) Turkey
14. (15) England
15. (16) Bulgaria
16. (19) Israel
17. (18) Greece
18. (13) Romania
19. (26) Ukraine
20. (22) Uruguay
Tags: FIFA rankings, World Cup 2010, World Cup Qualifying | Comments (1)
September 10, 2008 by Jordan
When most of us think of Trinidad and Tobago going up against the US, we probably first think that this should be a walk in the park for the Americans. But, as we look closer, we may come up with a different outlook on the upcoming World Cup Qualifier. In their first two qualifier matches, TNT beat Cuba 3-1 (The Americans squeaked out a victory against the Cubans 1-0) and tied Guatemala 1-1. In looking at the stats, one person on the TNT squad stands out - Keon Daniel - who has netted 3 of the 4 goals for his team so far. He is an explosive player who has the ability to find the back of the net.
For the Americans, they find themselves on top of the CONCACAF region having won both their matches by the score of 1-0. The main question I have is, who is the American go-to-guy when they need a goal? I think so far, the team has underachieved and will continue to do so until somebody, anybody, steps up and takes the reigns. Donovan hasn’t done much, neither has Dempsey nor Bradley. These are supposed to be some of the best players around, and I haven’t seen them play like they should be able to play.
Realistically, the only guy who has shown up for each game is their goalkeeper, Tim Howard, who has played lights out. Two shutouts in two games is impressive even if the two teams were Guatemala and Cuba.
Like what Zach posted a few days ago, I have a very hard time believing that the Americans will make it very far in 2010 unless they find somebody who is a true goal scorer. They need an American Rooney, Ronaldo, Villa, etc. Perhaps the Americans haven’t come as far as we thought in the beautiful game. What do you think?
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Tags: Keon Daniel, Landon Donovan, Trinidad and Tobago, US Soccer, World Cup 2010, World Cup Qualifier | Comments (0)
