Saturday, July 15, 2006

Italy: Last Weeks World Soccer Champs. This Week #2??

 

The ANNOTICO Report

 

The Good News is that FIFA reduced the Term of their Rankings of 8 years to 4 years.

The Bad News    is that FIFA reduced the Term of their Rankings of 8 years to 4 years.

FIFA should have and eventually will reduce the term to 2 years.

 

John Ryan explains the lunacy below.

 

ITALIANS JOBBED


Mercury News
By John Ryan

Thursday, July 13, 2006

 

Say what you want about the BCS and college football -- and we have -- but when last season ended, Texas was voted the No. 1 team.

If only it were so easy in soccer. With its World Cup victory and coronation as the world's best team, Italy soared nine spots in the rankings.

To No. 2. Behind Brazil, a quarterfinalist.

This is that great new formula FIFA came up with?

One grand innovation was that rankings would now be based on a four-year span rather than eight years. In other words, if this were the NFL, the Raiders' current ranking would factor in their Super Bowl season of 2002. Yeah, they're about the same.

Examining the lunacy:

 Finalists Italy and France are Nos. 2 and 4. Semifinalists Portugal and Germany are Nos. 8 and 9. Quarterfinalists Brazil, Argentina and England are Nos. 1, 3 and 5.

 The United States dropped from fifth to 16th -- nine spots ahead of Ghana, which won their head-to-head matchup. (Ghana ranks 15 spots below the Czech Republic, which it manhandled 2-0.)

 Mexico dropped from fourth to 18th in the rankings -- after making the Round of 16 and taking now-third-ranked Argentina to overtime.

Nobody's saying exactly how the ratings are divined. But it looks like they came up with a newer, better way to rig the 2010 draw.

 

 

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