FIFA’s Top 10 on the World Ranking List
August 22, 2008
#1, Spain
With this years Euro came Spain’s first title win since 1964. They patiently waited 44 long years to lift the cup, and now Espana has come out as only the third country to win twice at the European Championships. With their win came not only the fancy silverware, but the title of best in the world. They won every game in the group stages and won the final with only one goal scored in the 33rd minute by none other than Fernando Torres, who made over 45 million dreams come true. The Spanish forward is now said to be “the best striker in the world”, and rightfully so.
#2, Germany
The Germans entered the Euro tournament hoping to add a third trophy to the shelf, and their goal was almost achieved, but Spain stepped in and tired them out before the end of the final. In the World Cup Qualifiers, they have been grouped with Azerbaijan, Finland, Liechtenstein, Russia, and Wales. Now, second behind Spain, they are ready to take on the world.
#3, Italy
The Italians put on a good show this summer, but Spain stood between them and the road to the semi-finals. It was their first loss to Spain in 88 years, and they played a wonderful quarter-final that ended in a penalty kick shoot-out. Top class goal keeper, Buffon, let in four goals while Spain’s Casillas only let in two. The Azzuri deserve a round of applause for their hard work. Despite their second round exit, we will see them in two years.
#4, Netherlands
The Dutch, who gave us one of the world’s best footballers, Johan Cruyff, broke into the top eight of the quarter-finals where they clashed with Russia. They managed to score one goal but it just wasn’t enough to hold off the Russians. In the World Cup they will be without two of their star players, Rafael Van Der Vaart and Ruud Van Nistelrooy, but they will still have a good setup and a strong team.
#5, Croatia
Our Croatian team has come a long way up the list since March of 1994, when they were ranked in 125th place. In 1998, they ranked 4th and in 1999, moved up to 3rd for bringing home the bronze from the World Cup. Their average ranking is around 28th, but by the end of this July, they ranked 7th and are now in 5th. This is their best ranking since the 1998 World Cup; they now out-rank the two South American giants, Brazil and Argentina. Surely this shows the progress coach Bilic and his men have made.
#6 and #7, Brazil and Argentina
Two of the world’s best South American teams now rank 6th (Brazil) and 7th (Argentina). Argentina held the title for nearly a full year, until the Euro final in Vienna when Spain took the gold. South America has already kicked off their qualifiers for the World Cup. Argentina and Brazil went head to head on June 18th, and it ended in a tie. Each team has played at least two games already. Brazil is off to a bit of a rough start with one loss and one tie. Argentina, on the other hand, has one win and one tie.
#8, Czech Republic
In 1976, as a part of Czechoslovakia, they won the Euro cup and finished in third on two different occasions. In 1996, they played their first European Championship as the independent nation of the Czech Republic, in which they made it to the finals. True, this year the Czech Republic went out on the first round 3-2 to Turkey, and they only bagged one win against Switzerland; but they still showed the makings of a great team.
#9, Portugal
The Euro 2004 was played on home turf, but they were beaten at their own game by Greece. Portugal entered this year’s Euro with high hopes and they made it to the quarter-finals, but only to fall 3-2 to the Germans. It was a very close well played game from both sides, but one final goal from Michael Ballack did it. Even with their talented players such as, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ricardo Quaresma, Nani, and Simao Sabrosa, they couldn’t even up the score in the last 30 minutes. Now everyone will be rested and ready to tackle any obstacles that the World Cup Qualifiers bring.
#10, Russia
After Russia’s poor performance at the 1996 and 2004 Euro, they were hoping to repeat their victory from 1960, when they were a part of the Soviet Union. This year, on their side was Guus Hiddink, a Dutchman who makes an excellent coach. Hiddink led the Russian team to the semi-finals where they met Spain for the second time. Their opening game with Spain went down 4-1, ending with a hat-trick from David Villa and one goal from Cesc Fabregas, while Russia’s only goal came from Roman Pavlyuchenko. Their semi-final match ended nearly the same way with a score of 3-0. Even with Spain wearing their ‘unlucky yellow jerseys,’ they were again just too much to handle. With Russia’s two quality players, Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko, on the team they will have no major problems in the World Cup Qualifying.
Jill Guthrie
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