Re: (recent) historical ranking of European countries

MMcC wrote:

> "James Allnutt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> > MMcC wrote:
> >
> > > You'd think the likes of
> > > Andorra etc would find that more appealing than getting hammered all the
> > > time.
> >
> > A bit like arguing that ugly people would only want to look at pictures
> > of ugly naked people because looking at naked beautiful people just
> > reminds them of what they can't have.  Surprisingly, life doesn't work
> > like that.
> >
> > Anyway - Andorra lost all 8 games in qualifying by 0-1, 1-2, 0-2, 0-2,
> > 0-2, 0-3, 0-3 and 0-3.
>
>
> Well that has to be their best record to date, because usually it's upwards
> of 3 or 4 goals a game. 

Certainly an exaggeration (see below)

> Of course some "big" teams often field less than
> full strength sides against the likes of Andorra, which may explain some of
> this.
Not by much really - they've done three qual programmes.

EC2000 - P10 L10 F3 A28 - average loss 2.5 goals
WC2002 - P10 L10 F5 A36 - average loss 3.1 goals  * only time over 3
EC2004 - P 8 L 8 F1 A18 - aveaage loss 2.1 goals
TOTAL  - P28 L28 F9 A82 - average loss 2.6 goals

Losing margins
1 goal  x 7
2 goals x 8
3 goals x 7
4 goals x 2
5 goals x 3
6 goals x 1

Again, nothing brilliant, but hardly the worst in the world.
> > That's not a great record but it hardly equates
> > to "being hammered" - in fact its a better record than most of the
> > "minnows" in other confederations will get in matches against lesser
> > nations - ie the sort of results you see in "pre-qualification" like for
> > the Asian Cup where Guam lost 5-0 and 6-0 to Mongolia and Bhutan.
>
>
> The degrees of "minnow" in some confederations like AFC and OFC really is
> mindboggling when you think about it. Level 4 minnow hammers level 5 minnow
> who later on is hammered by level 2 or 3 minnow.
> I suppose it does make UEFA seems very tight by comparison.
There's no "seems" about it - it is very tight. Teams can go from 0-1-7 
and last place in one qualifying tournament to 5-5-0 and make World Cup 
finals via a playoff the next (Slovenia in 98 and 02) or from 6-2-0 
group winners to 2-4-4 and finishing 4th the next (Norway same years).

> > James