World Cup power rankings 16 - 1

After the first half of the power rankings yesterday, it's time for the second half, including the best team from the group stages....

16. Croatia

One of the best teams not to make it through. Should have got at least a point against Brazil in the opening game, and then easily overcame Cameroon. Couldn’t quite hold back a Mexico team that went forward well in the last game, but the defence did basically look solid throughout.

15. Uruguay

A tough choice, given they have essentially been a one-man team, and especially considering who that man is. Offered nothing in the first game, before overcoming an England team that didn’t look like they knew where they were. The win against Italy was overshadowed by the bite from Suarez, and it’s hard to see them going any further without him.

14. Bosnia & Herzegovina

Best team not to qualify, very unlucky in their first trip to the finals. Should have had a draw against Argentina in the opening game but for an own goal in the first five minutes and a moment of Messi brilliance. Lost to Nigeria in a dull game but easily beat Iran. Well organised at the back and Dzeko could have done with a bit more support.

13. Costa Rica

Most people thought the first game against Uruguay was a freak result, but Arsenal player Joel Campbell looked just as dangerous in the shock win over an ordinary Italy side. They were happy to play out a dull 0-0 in the last game against England, but still have more to offer.

12. Algeria

Would have been ranked in the top 15 regardless of qualifying. Unlucky to lose to Belgium owing to a dubious penalty decision before one of the best 20 minutes of attacking football you’ll see to wipe away South Korea. Held on for a gutsy draw against a stoic Russian team to qualify for the first time.

11. Switzerland

Not inspiring but did more than enough to qualify from their group. Won the only game they needed to despite going behind against Ecuador before running into the irresistible French team who could have scored 10 in their second game. A comfortable win against Honduras including a hat-trick for Shaqiri saw them though.

10. Belgium

Haven’t lived up to expectations or hype just yet, but have efficiently cleaned up in the dullest group by far. Premier League players haven’t quite gelled together but they were caused few problems in their three matches.

9. Mexico

Should have scored more goals than they did, owing to mistakes from the officials in the first game against a lacklustre Cameroon. Executed their game plan against Brazil to perfection before coasting past Croatia. Defence looks just as solid as the forwards.

8. USA

Controversial selection after sneaking past Ghana and losing to Germany, but some of the football they have played merits their place in the top 8. The game against Portugal was played a blistering pace, and even though they lost Altidore in the first half of the opening game.

7. Chile

Probably the most stylish South American team in the competition. Player three very entertaining games in overcoming Australia and Spain before falling to Netherlands. Good players throughout the team, but will need Vidal back if they are to progress.

6. Brazil

Although they have coped well with the pressure and the emotion in the national anthems. Neymar has played well without hitting the heights, and they do look shaky at the back. In the first game against Croatia they should have got a point at best and then failed to break down Mexico, but they still have the ability to turn on the style at any minute.

5. France

The old cliché is you never know which France will turn up. In the first two games it was a flowing, ball moving joy with Benzema on good form. The third game saw changes made and a pretty dull 0-0 with Ecuador but the damage had already been done. They could go far.

4. Germany

Thomas Muller is the leading striker at the tournament but the Germans still haven’t really clicked on all levels. The thrashed a poor Portugal team in the first game and then scrambled a draw against Ghana in an entertaining clash. The last game against the USA was a bit of a washout, but having already secured their place it didn’t really matter.

3. Netherlands

No one expected much from this team, let alone blowing away the world champions effortlessly in the first game. Van Persie and Robben have been a revelation, playing with a pace and vigour that hasn’t been seen from them for a while. Also showed good grit to overcome Australia and then a professional performance against a decent Chile team.

2. Argentina

A tricky pick, because although they haven’t swept teams aside like Columbia or the Netherlands, but they have the outstanding player of the tournament. Messi has almost single-handedly won the game against Bosnia after a shaky start, Iran after a solid defensive showing and then Nigeria in one of the games of the competition. With Messi on the pitch anything is possible.

1. Columbia

Easily the best team in the competition so far, and not just for the dancing after their goals. Free-flowing football from front to back as they won the three group games, putting three past a stingy Greek defence before blowing away Japan in the last game. James Rodriguez looks especially good, scoring three goals already   

Obviously it should be said that three games is a tiny sample size and the quality of opposition faced has ranged wildly from team to team. Also, just because Columbia are top ranked doesn't mean I think they're going to go on and win, but you won't have long to wait as the knock-out phase predictions will be up tomorrow.

World Cup power rankings 32-17

So the last of the group games has just finished, and there is a much needed day off tomorrow before we get to the business end of the World Cup, starting with Netherlands v Mexico on Saturday afternoon.

I won’t pretend that I’ve seen every kick, but of the 48 group games I’ve managed to see 28 live, another 11 in full recorded, listened to 3 others on the radio and seen highlights of the other 6. So, after the first round of matches, here is my ranking of every team. Obviously the best team might not win and the top 16 won’t be those who went through. This isn’t based on anything beyond the three group games that each team has played in the 2014 World Cup.

The first 16 are below, I’ll post the top 16 tomorrow, along with a prediction of how the knock-out phase will work out.

32. Honduras

When they played the pre-tournament friendly against England everyone thought they were a dirty side, but it turns out they really were going soft on us. Offered nothing in their three games, except cynical fouling and

31. Iran

Played arguably the dullest game of the tournament against Nigeria, unlucky not to get something from Argentina but missed a couple of clear cut chances. Other than that happy to sit back, defend and offer very little going forward. They did manage to provide the Iranian President with a nice photo op though.

30. Cameroon

Had an unlucky draw, but an even worse defence. Conceded 8 goals but should have been into double figures apart from poor decisions. Alex Song summed things up with the most stupid sending off in World Cup history against Croatia.

29. South Korea

Played out two fairly dull draws and got taken apart by Algeria in the space of 15 minutes. Have fallen a long way since 2002, no real strength in any position. Lack of physical presence in the final third of the pitch.

28. Japan

Really struggled to hit their stride, losing against Ivory Coast after taking the lead and being unable to break down an organised Greek team before being ripped apart by Columbia. Lacked an ability to control the ball and make the final cutting pass.

27. Australia

No quality but plenty of fight and guts in a group that virtually every team would have struggled against. Ran Chile and Netherlands close before folding against Spain, but did score the goal of the tournament through Tim Cahill.

26. England

Low expectations which were far from reached. Sloppy defending in the first two games and a blunt attack apart from two counters which produced the goals. So-called star players came up woefully short and tactically inept decisions from the manager.

25. Spain

Worst ever defending Champions at a World Cup, never recovered from the demolition Netherlands inflicted on them. The two centre backs looked like they had walked into the ground off the street and the attack gave little to lift the spirits.

24. Russia

Typical Fabio Capello team, well organised but lacking inspiration and at times pretty tough to watch. Only goal of the tournament came from some very poor Algerian defending , and spent most of their first two games happy to see time out in midfield, even when losing to Belgium.

23. Ivory Coast

Looked unsettled by the Drogba problem, even when beating Japan in the opening game. Ran Columbia close and unlucky to go out after a last minute Greece penalty. Needed a couple of the Premier League stars to step up and make a contribution.

22. Portugal

Didn’t help themselves by getting torn apart by Germany and having Pepe sent off for a head-butt. Lucky to get a point against the USA before beating a demoralised Ghana team. Always likely to be a one-man team but even Ronaldo couldn’t help them, and his tantrums told the story.

21. Greece

Played exactly how many thought they would, well organised at the back apart from the mauling by Columbia and offering very little going forward. Very fortunate to go through but cool head from Samaras to score the last minute penalty.

20. Ecuador

Nearly caught Switzerland cold in the first game, but lack of ambition against France illustrated by a reluctance to bring a striker off the bench even when needing a win. Struggled without their home altitude to protect them, only just got past a very poor Honduras team.

19. Italy

Clinical finishing to capitalise on two mistakes against England but offered little in the other two games, causing Costa Rica and Uruguay few problems. Pirlo didn’t look as good as we had hoped, and the forward line never really came to the party.

18. Ghana

Unlucky not to have taken more from their first two games. Not especially tight at the back but always looked strong going froward. Unfortunate that the curse of the World Cup team split hit them this year, and couldn’t pull off the miracle they needed against Portugal.

17. Nigeria

Looked well organised and some promising players in midfield. A little blunt going forward but did come alive through Musa against Argentina in the last game. Well organised at the back in front of a solid keepr, only breached by Messi, which is nothing to cry about.

The next batch will be up tomorrow….

English football, where did it all go wrong?

Most people don't really follow a competition once whoever they follow closest has had their interest ended. I couldn't really tell you what happened in the World Snooker Championships after Jimmy White was knocked out, and the end of the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 are pretty much a blur. Many casual British football fans will feel the same way about the Champions League this year after British interest was ended this week. For the first time in 15 years there are no team from the Premier League in the latter stages of the competition, a long fall from the days when England provided 3 of the 4 semi-finalists.

We had five teams in the competition, each of them have their own reasons for having been knocked out, but there are also a few other general points which, though have been made before, are worth repeating.

The Premier League isn't as good as we all think

Like the best myths in life (Santa Claus, the moon landing) no one really knows how it started and not many people are brave enough to speak out against it. The Premier League isn't that great in terms of competitiveness as you can pretty much say who the top 4 will be every season. While this may be true of other leagues (in fact nearly every other league in Europe) the quality in the middle and lower sections of the Premiership is pretty dire. The number of games the top sides are playing against similar quality opposition probably numbers no more than 8 a year as they spend the rest of their matches either trying to break down sides who simply park the bus or scoring for fun against QPR, either way not the best preparation for European games. The style of football we play also doesn't help. While the mad kick-and-rush of a Saturday afternoon makes it more exciting to watch it’s no substitute for a well organised defence and decent midfield with a bit of width. Just look at Ronaldo and Messi. Then there is the organisation of the game in Britain around Sky. No one really seems to care until Manchester United had to play Real Madrid with 48 hours less rest. As long as our top teams are being forced to play on Sunday for TV purposes while the rest of the continent are flexible enough to allow games on Saturday, Friday and even Thursday we will continue to come up against fresher and fitter opposition.

We don’t have European style managers

Sir Alex Ferguson isn't a great manager. There, I said it. He’s an above average manager who has been gifted with some of the best players of their generation, most of whom he has either sold or fallen out with. IN the transfer market he has made some shocking buys too (Eric Djemba-Djemba, Jordi Cryuff). He’s done all right in the Champions League given how long he has been at Manchester United, but he isn't a European Manager. The best days for the Premiership clubs were enjoyed with Rafa Benitez in charge of Liverpool and Jose Mourinho in charge of Chelsea. Arsene Wenger, despite all his obvious Europeaness and incredibly poor eye-sight has made only a couple of medium-sized waves in the competition. Roberto Mancini always looks like a tiger in the Arctic whenever he tries to make his sow’s ear of a team into a silk purse. We need to either train British managers how to be successful in Europe by encouraging them to go and play/manage/coach on the continent or get back to attracting the best coaches to come here. When Tottenham play in the Champions League next year they’ll do well, because they have a decent European coach who will set them up to play a good European game, and unlike when he was at Chelsea he’ll have a few decent plays to put the plans into action.

But that’s enough about the issues, what about the individual teams who qualified:

Arsenal

Had they not defended like a primary school 3 XI in the first half against Munich, who knows what would have happened. But a fair guess would be that they at best draw the first leg and then lose 2-0 in Munich. The fact that Bayern were in such control of the tie actually hindered them in the second leg, for some reason they couldn't decide whether or not to attack or defend the lead. Even then Arsenal couldn't get the job done, despite what their supporters might tell you this is another season of abject failure. The probably need to strip the team down to the bare bones and start again, first out of the door should be Wenger. I'm not sure how many players they have who would get into any of the remaining eight sides in the competition?

Celtic

Included purely for comedy value. Everyone was amazed they managed to qualify from their group and when they drew Juventus the writing was already very much on the wall and despite the various moans and whines from their fans about what the referee did or didn't do they were soundly beaten. They will of course be back next year owing to the fact that the Scottish Premier League is a total joke, but don’t expect them to make it out of the group, if they reach that far.

Manchester United

Arguably the unluckiest of the sides to get knocked out, with the sending off of Nani in the second leg against Madrid which could have easily been a booking. Although it undoubtedly changed the game I'm not certain that it wouldn't have ultimately be the same outcome. United have been shaky at the back for a few years, but given the weakness of the Premier League all too often are allowed to get away with it. When it comes to the business end of European football though it’s harder to hide the deficiencies.  

Chelsea

Without a doubt one of the luckiest winners of a competition ever when they somehow managed to beat Bayern Munich last year, it was never going to be the same again this time round. Missing Drogba and failing to manage to remove the squatter that is Fernando Torres was never going to make this an easy season, but the problems were only exacerbated by changing their manager 7 times during the groups stages. Ultimately it was the loss against Juventus that did for them, a game they should have at least got a point from. They need to do a pretty severe rebuilding job if they are to venture into the latter stages again.

Manchester City

I had to use Wikipedia to even remind myself that Manchester City were in the Champions League this year. Obviously I didn't  but they left so quickly and with such a small mark that it would be easy to forget. They didn't even ended up in the Europa League, which we all thought at the time would help them catch Manchester United in the league, not sure how that one is going to work out at this stage. City’s biggest problem this year, as with last, is the fact that they really aren't very good. Sure they’re made to look good in the Premier League but when they come up against a little quality they’re beaten before they start. Sure they had Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund in their group, but the familiar problem of drawing too many games (all three they played at home) saw their interest in the competition end as prematurely as [suitable metaphor to be added later].

There are few signs that any of the above will change any time soon, which means that next year we'll probably be looking at a similar quarter final line up as the teams from Germany, Spain and Catalonia continue to dominate.