Wales’ positioning above England in the rankings is damning of the disparity between the expectations of England and their actual performances, especially when you take into account that bookies offer odds of 125/1 for Wales to win Euro 2016, whereas England sit at a much more respectable 12/1.
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While a place at Euro 2016 is expected for both, Romania have sneaked into eighth place thanks to an unbeaten start to qualification and realising that friendlies are the near-definition of pointless when it comes to Federation Internationale de Football Association.
The Real Madrid man managed to pull off a very cheeky trick which we reckon we won’t be seeing from any England players in the near future.
He continued: “At the same time, the rankings are not going to get us to France. Success is getting to France”.
In June, Wales climbed into the top 10 for the first time since the rankings were introduced in 1993.
Wales were as low as 117th as recently as August 2011.
If they do qualify for the competition, it would be Wales’s first apperance at an global tournament since the 1958 World Cup.
England top Group E, having won all six games, and are already guaranteed of at least a play-off place, but will book their spot in France if they beat San Marino and Slovenia fail to defeat Switzerland this weekend.
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The top five of the standings remains the same, with Argentina leading the way ahead of Belgium, Germany, Colombia and Brazil.
