Scotland falls to #23 despite wins

Well, that’s the way it happens. I think we may have been a bit over-placed at #14, but #23 is definitely lower than I expected. It was a pretty soft month of competition for the Scottish national side, with only two matches (1-0 over Austria in a friendly and 2-0 over Faroe Islands in a Euro qualifier), but I’m not sure anyone expected we’d drop nine places. We were the biggest mover downward in the top 30, while my other homeland, the USA, rose from #29 to #16. I know that the US is on a good run of Gold Cup and friendly victories, but the lack of real intercontinental tournaments between World Cup years makes comparing Europe and America firmly in apples-and-oranges territory. Maybe the only real significance of the US rise is the fact that they did overtake Mexico, which has been underperforming and will have to manage a win or draw against group leader Panama to even make it past the group stages of the Gold Cup.

Other big movers: France’s clear lead in Euro 2008 Group B paid dividends as they jumped from #4 to #2 behind Italy. This is their highest ranking since March 2005. Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovenia both rose significantly (9 and 20 places, respectively).

Hopefully, Scotland will settle back to about #18 or so, where I think we belong right now, until September when we’ll once again have a chance to earn our points against the rest of Group B (which now, by the way, includes the #1 and #2 in the world).

The full list of rankings is available on FIFA’s website.

Category: Scottish Premier League

Tags: Bosnia-Herzegovenia, FIFA world rankings, France, Scotland, Scottish national team, Scottish Premier League, Serbia, USA

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