World Cup Results Based on FIFA Rankings
There aren’t too many people who take FIFA’s rankings very seriously. Using a complex system that rewards past performance more than it rewards present form, the ranking system is certainly an imperfect specimen. Nevertheless, it does give us some idea of how teams are relative to one another. Using the latest rankings, I decided to play out the World Cup under the scenario that the higest ranked teams will always advance to the next round. You might be a bit surprised by some of the teams that are tapped to come out of group play and how early some of the favorites would bow out of the tournament if it were based on ranking alone. If you look at it this way, you can really see that Groups A, G and H are weak.
Group A
Winner: Germany (22)
Runner up: Costa Rica (25)
Group B
Winner: England (9)
Runner up: Sweden (16)
Group C
Winner: Netherlands (3)
Runner up: Argentina (4)
Group D
Winner: Mexico (7)
Runner up: Portugal (10)
Group E
Winner: Czech Republic (2)
Runner up: USA (5)
Group F
Winner: Brazil (1)
Runner up: Japan (18)
Group G
Winner: France (8)
Runner up: Korea Republic (31)
Group H
Winner: Spain (6)
Runner up: Tunisia (24)
Second round
Sweden (16) over Germany (22)
England (9) over Costa Rica (25)
Netherlands (3) over Portugal (10)
Argentina (4) over Mexico (7)
Brazil (1) over USA (5)
Czech Republic (2) over Japan (18)
France (8) over Tunisia (24)
Spain (6) over Korea Republic (31)
Quarterfinals
Netherlands (3) over Sweden (16)
Czech Republic (2) over France (8)
Argentina (4) over England (9)
Brazil (1) over Spain (6)
Semifinals
Czech Republic (2) over Netherlands (3)
Brazil (1) over Argentina (4)
Final
Brazil (1) over Czech Republic (2)
Third Place
Netherlands (3) over Argentina (4)
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Comments
By tomislav chagall | March 15th, 2006 at 5:07 pm 
doesn’t sound too unrealistic to me, bob.
Posted from 
Germany
By Pedro P | March 17th, 2006 at 8:29 am I don’t believe Italy will go home soon. I don’t believe Holland and Argentina will survive together their group. I don’t believe it’s gonna be an easy walk in the park for MEX or POR. I don’t believe Spain can easily take Korea or survive Ukraine before that. I also don’t believe Holland can beat Portugal easily, if both go through and meet.
Posted from 
Netherlands
By Richard | March 23rd, 2006 at 4:53 am Obviously if it goes according to FIFA rankings, Brazil will win the World Cup. There are no surprizes in your system. Also it seems that you have not taken into account that Germany have home advantage.
You are right, FIFA rankings is not taken seriously. I think you get a better picture with the Mark Ziaian rankings www.internationalmark.co.uk/ranking.html
Posted from 
United Kingdom
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