U.S. soccer reaches new heights

A further factor taken into consideration is the number of goals scored and conceded in a match. Here, too, the distribution of these points depends on the relative strengths of the two teams. In other words, a goal scored by the lower-rated team will be weighted more than one scored by the higher-rated side. On the other side of the balance sheet, points are deducted for goals conceded. To encourage attacking football with more goals, goals conceded are weighted less than goals scored. In matches decided on penalties, only goals scored during regular playing time or extra time are considered in the calculation.

A possible "overweighting" of goals is avoided by attaching more importance to the first goal that a team scores than to any subsequent ones. On the whole, the number of goals scored can never earn as many points as would be awarded for a win.

Home and away games

To make an allowance for the extra handicap of playing away from home, the away-team is awarded a small bonus of three points. For games played on neutral territory or during World Cup final rounds there are no such bonus points.

Status of a match

The importance of a game is also considered — a World Cup encounter is weighted more heavily than a friendly match. The method applied here is to use a pre-calculated factor by which the point totals of a given match are multiplied.

The factors used are: Friendly match (multiplied by 1.00), Continental championship preliminary (x 1.50); World Cup preliminary match (x 1.50); Continental championship finals match (x 1.75); FIFA Confederations Cup match (x 1.75); World Cup finals match (x 2.00).

Regional strength factors

It is accepted that there are differences in strength between the various continents. To take these into account in an objective manner, weighting factors are worked out each year for each of the confederations. The basis of evaluation for each continent is the performance of its teams in direct intercontinental encounters. At the end of every year, a continental ranking list is calculated based on the same criteria as used for the FIFA World Ranking.

Not all the intercontinental matches played by teams from a given continent are taken into consideration, but only the direct confrontations between the strongest teams from each continent. Specifically, this means that what is included are matches between the best 25 percent of the teams from a given continent (with a minimum of 5 teams being considered).

The weightings are applied in the form of multiplication factors for teams from the same continent. For 2005, the following weighting factors will apply: UEFA (multiplied by 1.00), CONMEBOL (x 0.99); CAF (x 0.96); CONCACAF (x 0.94); AFC (x 0.93); OFC (x 0.93).

For the United States, after racking up wins over Honduras and Panama in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the past week, there's no reason it shouldn't be able to hang on to No. 6 in the August rankings. In fact, it might even surpass Mexico into fifth place.