FIFA Rankings are Rank

FIFA has released its rankings of all the world’s teams today and as usual they must be taken with a grain of salt.

No surprise that Brazil is still number one or that American Somoa is the 205th best team in the world. But there are plenty of other rankings that will leave you scratching your head.

Start with Germany which is apparently the 17th best team out there. I wonder if its opponents this summer will see things this way.

Then there’s Italy and England, which are ranked below the US and Mexico. Sorry, CONCACAF lovers, but your teams are just not that good.

Take a look at Cote d’Ivoire, which is ranked 42nd, but is a team that is tough enough to make the Group of Death the Group of Death. And how about Angola, which is ranked 63rd - a mere 39 places below the Nigeria side it beat out in qualifying for the World Cup and the lowest of any team to qualify.

All of this makes for interesting dicussion, but in the end the rankings will mean next to nothing come June.

Here’s the complete ranking.