FIFA rankings: Matildas slip to 15.

I say: Ranking, smankings!

The Matildas have slipped one place on the Fifa ranking to 15th.

Interestingly the Matildas are confident of progressing from their World Cup group in China in September despite the fact that two teams in their group are ranked above them



They will have to beat Norway, and Canada who are both ranked higher. Ghana, the third team in the group, are around the 50 mark, but with the improving standard of African football, it is not really known how good they will be.



DPR Korea who beat Australia recently in Olympic qualifiers are ranked 5th, although Coach Tom Sermanni thinks they are probably the best in the world.



Rankings, smankings. True football followers know they are worth tosh.



More interestingly, to me, anyway, is the Matildas match preparation for the World Cup.



They have two games against very poor teams in August. They must play Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong to complete their Olympic qualification program, but this leaves Sermanni very little time to get competitive games organised.



Not ideal preparation for a World Cup, and with FFA budgets tight at best, the chances for more International games are low.

The rankings.

1 USA 2204 0 13

2 Germany 2148 0 -31

3 Sweden 2071 1 25

4 Norway 2055 -1 -14

5 Korea DPR 2052 0 28

6 Denmark 2019 0 14

7 France 2008 0 6

8 Brazil 2000 0 0

9 Canada 1962 1 0

10 Japan 1944 -1 -20

11 China PR 1934 0 -23

12 England 1931 0 -7

13 Italy 1915 0 -3

14 Russia 1897 1 2

15 Australia 1893 -1 -6

16 Finland 1876 0 8

17 Ukraine 1843 0 9

18 Netherlands 1834 0 4

19 Czech Republic 1804 0 1

20 Spain 1802 0 9