[berko]

Yes, it is true Israel has reached its best FIFA ranking in its history being place in 22nd. The best ranking was in 1999 under Sharf where Israel held a 26th position.

 

[ירוק OLE!]

bravo! not that it means much...lets qualify to the world cup!

 

[Crackedpleasures]

On to the World Cup! :thumbsup:

 

[berko]

This ranking of course is not exactly the best one to consider, but anyways is impressive considering we were among 50's two years ago.

 

[Kappa21]

Should give a morale boost for the National team and even the youth squad to perform high since we made it this far.

It doesnt mean anything, but statistcally speaking..
Other than Colombia, Russia, Ghana, Bulgaria and Scotland..the rest of the teams usually make it to the Tournaments.........

 

[Lior]

great success!!
I dont like the FIFA rankings, there are better ones out there, but these are the official rankings and this is what everyone looks at. So when some random jabroni is checking out the rankings it will be nice that they will see Israel playing with the big boys.

 

[Kappa21]

You can have Israel being in the top 10 for all it matters, they will still look down at Israel...
its the mentality......

 

[Daweed]

According to FIFA, we were ranked 22nd back in June 1999. We've definitely came a long way back to get this high again. Congrats! arty::thumbsup::happy:

But Kappa is right... we'll need to actually WIN a tournament and qualify for EVERY tournament for AT LEAST 10 years in order to get any respect from the bigger football nations!!! And once we're in those tournaments, we must get to the knock-out stage every time also. If this trend would start now(i know it's a long shot), it will take at least 2-3 generations of Israeli players to gain this type of reputation... :hopeful::hopeful::hopeful:

 

[Kappa21]

Yea.....
We had a high ranking back in 1999....

i mean, people!! Lets remember 1999 for a second here....
4-0 win over Turkey!! 2-0 over Poland.... 5-0 over Austria.......
and we managed to clinch into the playoff rounds of the Euro 2000.....

Eventhough we missed WC Playoffs in 2002 by a measly goal....we had a downfall..

i wonder what Israel's ranking was in 68? 70? But they didnt have ranking back then!

 

[Golasa12]

Israel's ranking is up to 20th in the world, our highest ever, however I feel there are some holes in our team. Our centre backs are shaky and prevent the team from going forward more, and we lack some pace, with Cohen,Barda, and Benayoun being our fastest players. Hopefully Assulin and Sahar will develop and bring more pace to the team. We are also horrible at keeping possesion we need strong central midfield play from Alberman,Cohen, and Baruchian If we want to keep ourselves in games against higher level opponents.

 

[Kappa21]

I think after the Euro, we will eaither slip back in the 30th..since you get more points just for showing up in big events....