GTP's Official FIFA 2006 World Cup Thread (Now with Results!)

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Omnis
You should've seen ESPN's "expert panel" today. Stupid Alexi Lalas wouldn't shut up about how "KELLER IS TEH BEST GK IN THE WORLD!" and that nobody thinks so just because he's American. Each one on the panel thought it was gonna be 1-0 America, 1-0 America, and 2-1, America. It was like they completely forgot who CR was. "Team America, number FIVE on the world list!" Well, that's nice and all, but the Czechs are number 2, and they showed why this afternoon.
Really, Kellers a good keeper but not close to the best in the world which would probably be Cech at the moment. Also the Czech replublick are a much, much better team than USA who thanks to the way the teams are ranked are often put a hell of a lot higher than they should be, they shouldn't be any higher than 18. They have spirit and they have the energy but they play without much form and they lack the skill of other highly ranked teams.
 
The rankings system is abit of a farce really. Though there has been some attempt to tidy it up.

There's the official Fifa ranking
Rank Team Points
1 Brazil 827
2 Czech Republic 772
3 Netherlands 768
4 Mexico 758
5 USA 756
5 Spain 756
7 Portugal 750
8 France 749
9 Argentina 746
10 England 741
11 Nigeria 736
11 Denmark 736
13 Italy 728
14 Turkey 726
15 Cameroon 722
16 Sweden 709
17 Egypt 708
18 Japan 705
19 Germany 696
20 Greece 694

As you can see there are a few teams that are quite high. USA for one, but also Egypt who haven't even qualified for the World Cup (But won the African nations) and Greece who also failed to qualify (But won Euro 2004.)

Then there's the Elo footbal rating system.
Rank Nation Points
1 Brazil 2010
2 Netherlands 1962
3 England 1957
4 France 1944
5 Czech Republic 1939
6 Spain 1936
7 Argentina 1918
8 Italy 1913
9 Germany 1888
10 Portugal 1886
11 Denmark 1866
12 Uruguay 1818
13 Romania 1816
13 USA 1816
15 Iran 1815
16 Mexico 1814
17 Sweden 1812
18 Croatia 1807
19 Republic of Ireland 1794
20 Australia 1793

Now the top of the table might be more in order but there are a number of teams that have crept into the top 20 that aren't in the world cup. Denmark, Uruguay, Romania and Republiuc of Ireland have all done so without actually winning any major competitions.


So really there is no perfect system, especially if you use World Cup qualification as a marker. The Fifa system places some teams unexpectantly high while the Elo system allows smaller teams to creep in.
 
Cosmic
FIFA's ranking list does hardly make any sense. It shouldn't be based on points AT ALL.
What else would you base it on? Opinions?

Cause then you'd just know that France would be top and England bottom :crazy:
 
ExigeExcel
What else would you base it on? Opinions?
Not really, but FIFA's ranking system still doesn't make sense, sure Brazil as #1, whooo...unexpected :rolleyes:
It hard to say which team is the best and what rankning they should have but some teams like USA and Greece shouldn't be on the top 20 list.

Anyway...Brazil will not have an easy win against Croatia.

I'm off skatin'.
 
They should base it on wins, draws and losses and on the rank of the teams playing, so if the number 5 ranked team beats the number 1 ranked team they get more points given in the ranking table than if they beat the number 10 ranked team. If the number 5 ranked team draws against the number 1ranked theam they both get points but the number 5 ranked teams gets more points than the number 1 ranked team, if the number 5 ranked team draws aganist the number 10 ranked team, they get less points than the number 10 ranked team.
 
live4speed
They should base it on wins, draws and losses and on the rank of the teams playing, so if the number 5 ranked team beats the number 1 ranked team they get more points given in the ranking table than if they beat the number 10 ranked team.
In the Fifa system they do
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifa_world_rankings

However the Elo rating doesn't quiet work like that. Though it does use a predicted result.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_football_rating#Status_of_Match
 
I'm not thinking of it being the same sysem as currently used, much much simpler than that and not a system where the team that loses can ever recieve more points than the team that wins.

I'd have each win give a standard 30 points, each lose give 0 points, each draw give 10 points. If two teams are within 3 places of each other, they get the standard points, with an extra 5 points awarded for any team winning an away game. So for example, a team ranked 20th beats a team ranked 21st, 22nd, or 23rd they get 30 points, but for each ranking place further back than that, a point is deducted from what they recieve upto 20 places back, so the minimum they can get is 10 points for a win, that would be against any team as far as or further than 23 ranking places behind the winning team, the reverse applies to teams ranmking higher, so if you beat a team that's 18 ranks higher, you get 50 points.

For a draw, 1 point is added or deducted for every 2 places until there is no points or 10 points available.

The number of goals scoredn't should have any bearing on it, neither should friendly games, and there's no reason to complicate the system any further.
 
live4speed
The number of goals scored should have anybearing on it, neither should friendly games, and there's no reason to complicate the system any further.
Yeah but friendlies are usually half arsed affairs and you'd expect Brazil to put 10 past say Jamaica, any less is bad.
 
Friendly matches should coun't for the ranking.

Anyway, I'm so excited for today's game! I hope we do good at the start, a draw or loss wouldn't be any good for us, specially now Australia is motivated from yesterday's victory and Japan will give all they got to win the next two games.

My bet is 2x1 for Brazil today.
 
Anyone see the press conference with David Beckham this morning? It was on Sky Sports News. A Swedish reporter asked 'Why is there so much pressure on England to win the World Cup even though you've only won it once?' Good question actually. David Beckham said it was because we are a 'big nation' and we love football, but i'm not really sure why there's so much pressure on us to be honest.
 
Maybe it's because you've only won it once? I don't know, I think the pressure comes from UK itself, and that's normal. Brazil is really pressured over here to win the world cup every time, and it must be the same in Italy, Argentina and so on. The press likes to do that, and sometimes the pressure gets in the way (France 98).
 
ExigeExcel
Yeah but friendlies are usually half arsed affairs and you'd expect Brazil to put 10 past say Jamaica, any less is bad.
I meant to say shouldn't have any bearing on it.
 
Neither team is playing well, the Koreans arn't getting tosed around, it's just a question of who's playing worse.
 
Togo just got a lucky break. Anyway, if Korea just pushed some help up when they got their breaks towards goal, they could score very easily.

But, lol, did any ESPN viewers hear the irish-sounding announcer say, "He looks 6'13"!"


"...I mean, 7'1."

:lol:
 
El Gigante
Well done Togo for putting up a good fight. I'm watching France v Switzerland at the moment, should be a great game.

For the most part it's a totaly snooze fest, it's like they're walking around the pitch.
 
Ribery shouldn't have been taken off, Vieira or Wiltord should have made way for Trezeguet or even Govou, Henry was hardly getting any service!

What they need is Reyes, Fabregas, Ljungberg and Hleb to become French, then Henry will score goals. :rolleyes:
 
Anyone else looking forward to the Brazil match this evening? First chance to get a glimpse of the reigning champions, against a decent side too. I expect a 3-1 win to the Samba boys. :-)
 
Fourth successive game in World Cup Finals without a goal for France...
 
France really seem to have lost it. With all their great players they should be scoring loads! Oh well, hopefully the Brazil game will have some goals in it.
 
markj_87
Anyone else looking forward to the Brazil match this evening? First chance to get a glimpse of the reigning champions, against a decent side too. I expect a 3-1 win to the Samba boys. :-)
They better nto concede! That'll ruin my fantasy league teams!
 
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