Socceroos ranked highest in Asia

[Allstar cards inc]

Thought this might be a good discussion point...

The Socceroos have replaced Japan as Asia's highest-ranked team after the latest FIFA world rankings were released.

Australia's 1-0 victory over Iraq in Sunday night's World Cup qualifying match has moved them up eight places to No.35, with Japan dropping one place to No.38.

Argentina extended their lead atop the rankings despite not playing a match.

They now lead South American rivals Brazil by 46 points even though Dunga's team recorded a 3-2 victory over Canada on May 31.

World Cup holders Italy remain third, with defending European champions Greece maintaining eighth place.

England, the highest-ranked team not competing at Euro 2008 which starts on Saturday, moved back into the top 10 in ninth after victories over the United States and Trinidad and Tobago.

FIFA rankings, top 20 (previous position in brackets)

1. (1) Argentina

2. (2) Brazil

3. (3) Italy

4. (4) Spain

5. (5) Germany

6. (6) Czech Republic

7. (7) France

8. (8) Greece

9. (11) England

10. (10) Netherlands

11. (9) Portugal

12. (12) Romania

13. (16) Cameroon

14. (17) Mexico

15. (13) Croatia

16. (14) Ghana

17. (15) Scotland

18. (18) Bulgaria

19. (19) Colombia

20. (25) Turkey

35. (43) Australia

 

[aussiemjfreak]

Not too bad I guess!

 

[ace e]

That is awesome for the Aussies and i think they could beat the likes of Bulgaria & Scotland too.

 

[jordan23]

Not much use in ranking high when you struggle to beat Iraq, Qatar and China. If pitted up against European nations they have no chance.

 

[gemini0928]

Great job! Hope we can get it higher in the near future...

 

[ducky_poo]

very hard to gauge really seeing we dont often play against the quality teams

 

[Allstar cards inc]

very hard to gauge really seeing we dont often play against the quality teams

I know it was a friendly...but didn't we just beat Ghana and they're ranked 16th!! (14th when we played them!!!)

 

[jordan23]

I know it was a friendly...but didn't we just beat Ghana and they're ranked 16th!! (14th when we played them!!!)

Yeah that was at home tho plus Ghana were fielding a 2nd string side missing the likes of Essien etc. in their squad.:v:

 

[axeman23]

Ghana was missing quite a few key players, but that wasn't exactly our A side either. As for the WCQ so far, we've won or drawn every game so far, what's not to like? 10-0 or 1-0, a win is a win. BTW, who's staying up for the return leg Sunday morning? Anyone? I got a few weeks off at the moment, so I probably will...

 

[axeman23]

Also on the point of us "barely beating Qatar, China and Iraq", scoreline wise that is true. But when the Qataris and Iraqis both bring one striker and are more concerned about keeping 10 players back defending, it's hardly conducive to big scorelines. Sure, Iraq could've PINCHED a goal on the counter, but they were more worried about keeping us OFF goal. As for the China game, I can excuse that as the prep for the match was pretty dodgy and China do have some class players. But at least they played a bit of attacking football, which was good to see...

 

[jestero12]

Good on the Socceroos!!! You can only make do with the opposition you have...if we were in europe, playing consistantly against top teams, our standard of football and our ranking would be a lot higher!

Best in Asia, is what we should be, but now the pressures on to prove it.

 

[jordan23]

Good on the Socceroos!!! You can only make do with the opposition you have...if we were in europe, playing consistantly against top teams, our standard of football and our ranking would be a lot higher!
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Makes no difference.They were only really organised with Hiddink running the show. Without Hiddink players just roam around the backline pointlessly and fail to progress the ball and even threaten goal.