Criticism
Since their introduction in 1992, the FIFA World Rankings have been the matter of much debate, particularly regarding the calculation procedure and the resulting disparity between generally perceived quality and world ranking of some teams. For example Norway was ranked second in October 1993 and July–August 1995, and the United States reached fourth in 2006, to the surprise of even their own players. However, criticism regarding the unrealistic ranking continued even after the introduction of the new formula. Israel's climb to 15th in November 2008 raised a few eyebrows even in the Israeli press, with the team missing a huge opportunity to break into the top 10 after conceding a last gasp equaliser against Latvia.
Prior to July 2006, one of the main criticisms was that the rankings considered the performances of teams over an eight-year period, and that teams' ranking positions did not correlate to their recent performances. This criticism has lessened somewhat with the introduction of a new formula, reflecting results over a four-year period, introduced in July 2006. The perceived flaws in the FIFA system have led to the creation of a number of alternative rankings from football statisticians, including the World Football Elo Ratings and the rec.sport.soccer Statistics Foundation rankings.
Read more about this topic: FIFA World Rankings
Famous quotes containing the word criticism:
“Homoeopathy is insignificant as an art of healing, but of great value as criticism on the hygeia or medical practice of the time.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I consider criticism merely a preliminary excitement, a statement of things a writer has to clear up in his own head sometime or other, probably antecedent to writing; of no value unless it come to fruit in the created work later.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
“The aim of all commentary on art now should be to make works of art—and, by analogy, our own experience—more, rather than less, real to us. The function of criticism should be to show how it is what it is, even that it is what it is, rather than to show what it means.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)