Scotlands place in the world according to FIFA

Short and to the point

We beat France home and away. You get shitload of bonus points for that. England should try beating the French sometime, it helps your ranking fantastically.

why do you think the Irish ended up 14th in 2001 after beating the Dutch?


Besides, the ranking is irrelevant. From a Scottish point of view.

UEFA
On our day, we can beat anyone. Wins against the likes of France, Holland, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal and England are big shocks. Games vs the likes of Czechs, the other home nations, Russia, belgium, scandanavians are winnable in the right attitude. Teams like Belarus and downwards, losing to them should not happen (though it does).

AFC
Iran, Japan (though we drew them twice!), South Korea, Australia would all cause problems. The second rank of Uzbekistan, Iraq, north korea etc could cause problems. The rest should be no problem. Laos, Singapoure, Nepal, India, I think Scotland would win there.

CAF
Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon would beat Scotland most likely. The rest are beatable, many of them (Swasiland, Mali, Uganda) are more than beatable.

Oceania
A walk in the park. Teams that get thumped 17-0 by teams that get thumped 17-0 by teams that get thumped 6-0 are no match for any UEFA team, let alone Scotland.

CONCACAF
USA and Mexico, I'll give them that. Maybe Honduras and Costa Rica at a push. No one else though.

CONEMBOL
Brazil. Argentina. Uruguay. Paraguay. For sure, defeats. Chile and Colombia are problematic. The only current CONEMBOL teams I'd be confident of the current Scottish side beating would be Peru and Bolivia

So, if we take the following teams as better than Scotland
Brazil. Argentina Uruguay Paraguay Chile Colombia USA Mexico Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon Iran, Japan , South Korea, Australia France, Holland, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal England Czechs, Ireland (Rep), Russia, belgium, sweden norway denmark, Honduras and Costa Rica
So that would make an average Scottish ranking of 32 in the world. (And thats worst possible, obviously it varies depending on form.)

The scottish are 16 as a result of recent results against teams mentioned above. How long they last in the top 20 this time around depends on how they fare in the coming years.
We're certainly not a team worth a 90th in the world ranking though!

As for England

Teams capable/expected of beating England
France, Holland, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal Ivory Coast, Ghana Brazil. Argentina
So England would be ranked around 11th at worst.
Though clearly they are ranked lower as a result of getting done in by Croatia, Israel, Macedonia, Russia, etc.


Thats how I work it out realistically. I now await furious replies of "How could you possible say Scotland would beat Singapoure/England could concieve of losing to Ghana/etc".