FIFA's ranking system has always been questionable. I don't care where they got their points because England are definitely not the 6th best team in the world. They are vastly overrated and the media has to take some blame for constantly building them up. I can understand why Italy and France are where they are. Neither had really impressive World Cup qualifying campaigns. France only sealed their place after Henry's double handball against Ireland. Both teams were also pathetic in the tournament proper. Even New Zealand had a better campaign and that puts things in perspective.

Malaysia has climbed 6 places but I really think that we should be on top of countries like St. Vincent and Grenadines (who have a population of only 125,000 which is less than the population of Taiping. Also their Premier League was formed in 2009), Rwanda (once ravaged with civil war and genocide), and Dominica was boast no professional league and has the population of Jerantut (72,000). In contrast we have ample facilities, a professional league and more funding. We really need to start getting our act together. If the Harimau Muda's win is anything to go by, maybe and just maybe there is a dim, faint light at the end of the tunnel.

It doesn't take an England hater to spot the fallacy in this points system. Anyone gifted with the ability to rationalise will agree that England are in no way, the 6th best team in the world at the moment. For the sake of argument, I'm not an England hater. I don't support any International team and am impartial. I just think that for a team who has achieved next to nothing in the last few decades, a 6th place ranking is highly flattering. It may be true that they had a good qualifying campaign during the last World Cup but they weren't exactly in a tough group.

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Added on January 5, 2011, 10:43 amI don't see why not. It's 'kebarangkalian' isn't it? The bigger your population, the bigger your pool of talent especially since kids in our country have almost all kicked a football at some point in their lives. It's like the first law in sales. The more prospects you have, the higher your chance of closing.

"Born into the sport"? I agree to an extent. Kids in Brazil grow up in poverty, and therefore play barefeet in the sand. Over years of evolution, kids there are born with natural talent? I don't subscribe to this but I do believe that one can evolve physically or genetically. You can generally have more stamina, be physically bigger or stronger depending on where you are born and what your diet is. Our kids play football throughout their childhood lives and football is considered to be our no. 1 sport. Isn't is safe to say therefore that we are "born into football" ourselves?

Politics? I for one believe that it's harder to set up a proper football organisation in a country that is politically unstable. Lets take Iraq as an example:-

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/07/23/ga...power-struggle/

Wealth? Well the more money you have, the more you can invest into infrastructure. I think it's pretty clear cut.

Do all these factors ultimately determine your place in the football world? Perhaps not but having money, having a larger talent pool and living in stability does give you a huge advantage.

Maybe you can tell me why you think I can't judge a countries success on these factors? I must admit we do have our challenges. I mean logic would dictate that we should be the economic powerhouse of SEA with all the resources we have but even a small nation like Singapore with zero resources are years ahead of us.

Oh and the dig about geographical location, that's your example, not mine. I cited demographics as a factor

This post has been edited by Duke Red: Jan 5 2011, 05:25 PM

I generally don't answer questions with questions so I'll not state what position I think England should be in.

I think FIFAs points system is dodgy and maybe you don't, hence this debate will have no end.

Of the examples you cited, Egypt are African champions. That's worth something.

You are obviously an England fan for whatever reason so perhaps you can cite why you think they deserve such a high ranking? Their impressive 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign?

I for one thought they had a largely disappointing World Cup despite reaching the last 16. They were unimpressive in their matches against Algeria, the US and Slovenia. They didn't even show up against Germany. However, points only take the end result into consideration.