av3ry Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 10th at the very highest IMO. 1.Spain 2.Germany 3.Portugal 4.France 5.Argentina 6.Brazil 7.Holland 8.Russia? 9.Croatia? maybe even Uruguay? England Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astafjevs Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 No Italy in the top 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SI Staff Jeroen Thijssen Posted June 25, 2012 SI Staff Share Posted June 25, 2012 I'd say Holland are more talented because of their attackers but were poorly set up, England at least had a team defending together. They're hard to place, reached a WC final then were quite bad in the group stages at Euros.I think the semi finalists represent the quality of this tournament, and England are probably well placed alongside the likes of France in that tier 3 by evilyoshi. England reached the Euro SF in 1996 and haven't performed beyond the QF's ever since. Yes, they won the World Cup in 1966 but that's almost 50 years ago. Looking at the Dutch defense... I wouldn't say World Class obvioiusly but both central defenders (Heitinga and Mathijsen) as well as the right back (Van der Wiel) have proven that they can act at a decent level and therefore are competent players on the highest of levels. I do agree that the England defense (+ goalkeeper) is better than the attack and probably their midfield too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott MUFC Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 Tier 6 I think England are better then Croatia though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lermon Posted June 26, 2012 Author Share Posted June 26, 2012 I don't know why people rank Portugal so high. 3rd in the world? They came 2nd to Denmark in their qualifying group and lost to Norway and Denmark on the way. Yes they have an exceptional player in Ronaldo. Yes they completely dominated Czech republic. I don't think they're top tier team. They're maybe about the same level as France but performing better in this tournament. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris79 Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 I don't know why people rank Portugal so high. 3rd in the world? They came 2nd to Denmark in their qualifying group and lost to Norway and Denmark on the way. Yes they have an exceptional player in Ronaldo. Yes they completely dominated Czech republic. I don't think they're top tier team. They're maybe about the same level as France but performing better in this tournament. I guess it is a general problem with the initial question. Do we rate this tournament performance (I guess it is not the point) or the general ability to do well at tournaments or general ability of the teams? Is it who's likely to go through WC quals winning all games or who's likely to win the 2014 finals? You have teams that play well in qualifications and suffer in tournaments (like Poland 2002) as a result of lack of experience or something else (like Holland 2012). You have teams that qualify with big problems, but their manager prepares them well for the tournament so they 'overachieve' there. For example, it looks like Portugal are very well prepared for this one, they play in a very much 'tournament' way, but as you said they haven't been so good over a longer period of time. So credit to them, but if we mean general ability/class of the teams I wouldn't rank them that high. Which doesn't mean they won't go on and win Euro. There is a reverse problem with England IMO. This particular team was relatively weak (also because of injuries) and generally I think while QF was max they could realistically hope for, they are generally likely to be able to compete with Italy in the coming years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodmansee Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 Talk about overrate Holland, they was awful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
av3ry Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 No Italy in the top 10 ****, I knew I missed someone out! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SI Staff Jeroen Thijssen Posted June 26, 2012 SI Staff Share Posted June 26, 2012 Talk about overrate Holland, they was awful. Yes, but we should have beaten Denmark and could have drawn Germany (with a bit of luck, granted) and that'd see us through. Apart from - yes, a rather poor performance - we are generally considered contenders or outsiders and are vice-world champions. I would hardly call that overrating. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juve4EVA Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 England reached the Euro SF in 1996 and haven't performed beyond the QF's ever since. Yes, they won the World Cup in 1966 but that's almost 50 years ago. Looking at the Dutch defense... I wouldn't say World Class obvioiusly but both central defenders (Heitinga and Mathijsen) as well as the right back (Van der Wiel) have proven that they can act at a decent level and therefore are competent players on the highest of levels. I do agree that the England defense (+ goalkeeper) is better than the attack and probably their midfield too. I only think England played a better tournament, playing to their ability I agree Holland are better. One of the top 5 teams in Europe I'd say. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vynal Seven Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 Vice-world champions is a brilliant bit of spin. Wp. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nørbæk Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Yes, but we should have beaten Denmark and could have drawn Germany (with a bit of luck, granted) and that'd see us through. Apart from - yes, a rather poor performance - we are generally considered contenders or outsiders and are vice-world champions. I would hardly call that overrating. Agreed 100 %. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_jagster Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Do think there's a bit of an overreaction to England as useless since the last world cup, we've been at roughly the same level for a long time, and that is a bit worse than the best teams in the world. That is, we will generally be the worse side in matches against the big guns, but more than capable of getting a result (we were deservedly beaten by Italy on pens, but not completely battered). And we would expect to beat most other nations, the Greece, Belgium, Norway, Turkeys of the world. So I would say 10th or so in the world is fair - whilst we lack lots of world class players, we have many competent players, and a greater depth than Portugal or Netherlands in this 'beyond the first XI' area. Also think people are overreacting to Portugal, they are good but I don't think they are better than Italy, or that much better than England or Croatia. Germany and Spain were both better in their matches, compare number of chances Italy had against Spain to number Portugal had. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davehanson Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Agree, Italy cant touch Spain or Germany imo which shows just how crap we are, will post my own in a min Really? Oh dear. Anyway, England are Tier 3 imo. Probably a little better than the Czech's, but I would say almost identical to Croatia. Certainly not as good as France or Portugal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Wallin Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 The in every way perfect FIFA national ranking has just been updated, and England goes up! New Top 20: 1. Spain 2. Germany 3. Uruguay 4. England 5. Portugal 6. Italy 7. Argentina 8. Netherlands 9. Croatia 10. Denmark 11. Brazil 12. Greece 13. Russia 14. France 15. Chile 16. Ivory Coast 17. Sweden 18. Czech Republic 19. Mexico 20. Japan Selected others: 26. Republic of Ireland 38. Wales 49. Scotland 102. Northern Ireland Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razzler Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 Haha, England better than Holland So many bad posts in various threads since England lost. Think everyone is combusting. It's no less funny than having Croatia and Russia above England really Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyh21 Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 Spain "tier 1", Germany,Uruguay "tier 2" Italy,Holland,England,Portugal,France,Russia,Croatia,Argentina,Brazil in "tier 3" Czech,Greece,Denmark,Poland,Ukraine,Ireland,Sweden,Belgium,Norway,Serbia,Chile,Mexico "tier 4". That will do Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razzler Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 Uruguay tier 2? Had a very good Copa and a decent draw in the World Cup and do have a tidy group of players but just behind Spain and Germany? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lermon Posted July 5, 2012 Author Share Posted July 5, 2012 See Ivory Coast 16th and they're probably on par with England really. The Toure brothers, Drogba, Kalou, Essien. Uruguay are awesome, with Forlan and Suarez and they got the defence. But really they're probably Portugal level. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PMLF Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 Tier 1: Spain, Germany Tier 2: Argentina, France, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Uruguay Tier 3: Brazil, England Tier 4: Chile, Croatia, Ivory Coast, Mexico, Russia, USA, etc... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubenJ Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 I would put Spain in a tier of its own tbh. As good as Germany is, they are not up to that level. Belgium probably around tier 10 until proven otherwise Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lermon Posted July 6, 2012 Author Share Posted July 6, 2012 it's curious people putting Germany ahead of Italy- when Italy beat Germany! Should they not be on the same level? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PMLF Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 I don't think it's something that will happen in a regular basis and I don't think Italy are the second best team in the world, they overachieved in the European Championship. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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