USMNT 4th in FIFA Rankings

bordelais7 · 04-20-2006, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scholesy

saying things like 'The USA are ranked fifth in the world, that makes us better than teams like England ...'.

Why is this bad? The USA IS better than England.

:P

My theory is that Garber points out things like this simply to help the casual non-soccer American sports fan sit up and take some notice. After all, we only cheer for winners, in general. I don't think anyone who is actually involved in soccer in the US actually believes that the Americans are the fourth best team in the world.

fuegote · 04-20-2006, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bordy

I don't think anyone who is actually involved in soccer in the US actually believes that the Americans are the fourth best team in the world.

Old Ska · 04-20-2006, 09:10 AM

Ali G interviewing David Beckham: "Let's talk about fashion. Beckham, we's all seen pictures of you wearing clothes that are well embarrassing and make you look like a laughing stock. Why do you wear that England football shirt?"

Aerick · 04-20-2006, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Ska

Ali G interviewing David Beckham: "Let's talk about fashion. Beckham, we's all seen pictures of you wearing clothes that are well embarrassing and make you look like a laughing stock. Why do you wear that England football shirt?"

While crass in many parts, that "interview" was pretty dang funny.

Aerick · 04-20-2006, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scholesy

INHO, these kinds of things are a bad thing for US Soccer, people like Don Garber who don't understand the world stage even though he has a voice loud enough in terms of influence in the USA saying things like 'The USA are ranked fifth in the world, that makes us better than teams like England ...'.

The reason I think it's bad is because it raises expectations to a silly level of people that aren't fans. It makes people think that the USA are genuinely the 4th best in the world. Anyone (including Bruce Arena who laughed at the rankings saying they weren't accurate at all) who knows soccer at all knows that these numbers are not accurate, it's been a numbers game for the USA, just play as many games as you can against the usuals (except Germany).

This just bugs me, the USA has made so many great steps in soccer and has improved so much so to be dishonest with the general population here is just done to satisfy the egos of a few people is dangerous. The US is really worthy of more recognition in the world but would be best served by not believing the hype and just playing their best in June.

I respectfully disagree. I think that this is very good for US Soccer, despite people's opinions that the ratings may be complete bunk. It draws the casual and non US fan into the World Cup frenzy if only from a curiosity perspective. If the US ends up playing well, they'll be noticed by these fans. If these fans aren't drawn into it from the beginning, they end up briefly seeing news articles about how well the US is doing in the World Cup, but for the most part are ignorant of it.

The reason high rankings work for US fans is because we love winners - regardless of the sport. If the US participates badly in a sport that isn't normally supported, the US fan will continue their apathy towards it. Only when there's a success story that people are actually aware of does that sport have a chance to garner more support.

I_Believe_In_Kreis · 04-20-2006, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerick

I respectfully disagree. I think that this is very good for US Soccer, despite people's opinions that the ratings may be complete bunk. It draws the casual and non US fan into the World Cup frenzy if only from a curiosity perspective.

Yeah but the problem becomes managing expectations. Let's say casual fans hear we're ranked #4 in the world (which is a whole other issue - I doubt most Americans even know there's a ranking for soccer, that we're ranked, and where we're ranked). Let's say they tune into the world cup out of curiosity and because they love winners. And let's say the U.S. plays well and bows out in the quarterfinals. While you and I are going nuts over how great the U.S. did, the casual fan is disappointed because we didn't live up to our ranking. That doesn't make the U.S. team 'winners' in his mind. To the American sports fan, a winner is somebody who plays up to or beyond expectations. In this case, the expectations are too high.

Burninator · 04-20-2006, 11:43 AM

Here are my musings on the FIFA world rankings:

1. FIFA smokes crack :dancing:
2. FIFA wants more $$$ from United States citizens
3. FIFA is trying to break into the U.S. market ASAP, first through the rankings, then through the World Cup itself: FIFA will instruct referees to be soft on the USMNT this year, thus we will not lose in the quarterfinals due to an uncalled handball in the box; as Germany was set up to lose in the final in 2002 so they could win it at home this year, we may be on the track to winning in 2014 or 2018: forced to lose in quarterfinals, we'll be forced to lose in the semifinals or finals this year, then win after that.

Musing is fun.

⚽ Geoff
-----------------------
REGULATORS! Mount up!
How could you NOT call that handball, ref? Was it the money?

Aerick · 04-20-2006, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by I_Believe_In_Kreis

Yeah but the problem becomes managing expectations. Let's say casual fans hear we're ranked #4 in the world (which is a whole other issue - I doubt most Americans even know there's a ranking for soccer, that we're ranked, and where we're ranked). Let's say they tune into the world cup out of curiosity and because they love winners. And let's say the U.S. plays well and bows out in the quarterfinals. While you and I are going nuts over how great the U.S. did, the casual fan is disappointed because we didn't live up to our ranking. That doesn't make the U.S. team 'winners' in his mind. To the American sports fan, a winner is somebody who plays up to or beyond expectations. In this case, the expectations are too high.

No such thing as "bad press" right? At least we got them to watch it. We'll convert 0% of the potential fans that never even watch the sport.

Real Supporter · 04-20-2006, 04:09 PM

Does FIFA use the BCS formula in the World Rankings.

I can almost hear Joseph Blatter right now, "Teams like USA, T&T, Mexico, and Costa Rica are in a 'Power Confederation.' Teams like Brazil, and Czech Republic are in non-equity confederations."
:banpoop:

I_Believe_In_Kreis · 04-21-2006, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerick

No such thing as "bad press" right? At least we got them to watch it. We'll convert 0% of the potential fans that never even watch the sport.

You're assuming if we're not ranked high people won't watch. History would indicate that's not the case. In '02 by the time the U.S. reached the quarterfinals all kinds of non-soccer people were crowding into sports bars at ungodly hours to watch the game. The reason: The U.S. team was surprising everyone by advancing to a level noone thought possible. They were winners. Even when they bowed out they were still winners because they exceeded expectations. Americans (men in particular) want to see the U.S. win, period. So in '06 if the U.S. manages to advance but loses to Italy along the way, people will tune out because we got beat by a lower ranked team. That's not what a winner does.
And yes, there is such a thing as bad press. Ask the BYU football, USU football, Barry Bonds, etc.