Rankings "A Joke" as Germany Slip to 20th

Germany may hold the prestigious title of World Cup hosts in 2006 with great hopes of becoming champions at the end of the tournament but anyone casting a curious glance at the FIFA world rankings this month would be excused for thinking that Jürgen Klinsmann's side were rank outsiders.

Germany's lack of competitive action due to their automatic qualification means that Klinsmann's team were powerless to halt their slide out of the top 20, falling behind the likes of Mexico, the United States, Japan and Iran.

Germany's slide began after a dismal Euro 2004 campaign in which they were eliminated in the first round without winning a game. Since then, as the rest of the world has played for qualification points, Germany have kjept in shape with friendly matches which do not produce ranking points.

World Cup hosts don't play for points

While seemingly unperturbed by the latest league table of international sides, the Germany coach could barely hide his exasperation at a system which does not take into account the fact that the World Cup hosts do not play any qualification matches and therefore do not pick up any points to help their cause in the run-up to the championships.

"The rankings are a bad joke," declared Klinsmann. "If we win all of our friendly matches we would still slide down the rankings. The World Cup hosts should be taken out altogether."

This year, however, Klinsi's boys could gain ground by winning the Confederations Cup, another major international tournament being hosted by Germany in June.

Friendly victories count for nothing

Germany have recently held top-ranked side Brazil to a draw as well as beating Slovenia and drawing with Argentina, although as friendly games none of those results have earned Germany points in the ranking system.

They also beat both Iran and Japan at the end of 2004, both of which, in 19th and 17th place respectively, are now seen as better than Germany although they will still go into next year's World Cup as one of the favorites.

"I would certainly say that we are among the top six or eight teams in the world," added Klinsmann.

Czech Republic FIFA's top European side

Brazil continues to top the list, with the Czech Republic replacing France in second to become Europe’s highest-ranking team.

Germany's arch-rivals England move two places up to sixth while Northern Ireland, Germany's next friendly match opponents have fallen farther from the top 100, slipping two spots to 113th, below Rwanda, Gabon, Vietnam, Botswana and Cyprus after a 4-0 thrashing by England last month.