Curse of the Faroe

Thursday, 08/09/2011

by Tom Seymour

After another uneasy performance by Fabio Capello’s England at Wembley, Wales manager Gary Speed must be wondering whether it is near misses like this that leave his national side, stranded as they currently are in the FIFA world rankings. Wales are presently ranked 117th in the world, ensuring they were sixth seeds for the recent World Cup qualifying draw, after falling behind the Faroe Islands in 112th position.

It is a sorry state of affairs for the Welsh national team, as after dropping below the Faroe Islands in July of this year, they then fell a further five places in August, to put them just behind Haiti. To put this into perspective, you have to consider that the Faroe Islands (Wales’ nearest European rival) have only ever won eight competitive games, since becoming a member of FIFA in 1988, these coming against; Austria, San Marino twice, Luxembourg twice, Malta twice and Estonia. Austria and Estonia are the only two of these teams that have ever made it into the FIFA top 100 in the world rankings.

If Rob Earnshaw had acted more like a goal poacher and less like a fly-half last night and hadn’t scooped the ball over the bar from four yards out, it would not only have added to England’s woes at home, but also would have given Wales some vital FIFA points that they need to rise up the ranks. As it is, Gary Speed must be asking himself how his team are in this position, when you consider the talent at their disposal.

In Gareth Bale, they have a world-class footballer, with raw pace and skill. Something he proved over two legs against Inter Milan in the Champion’s League last season. But that aside, Wales still have a starting line-up full of Premier League first team regulars. Captain Aaron Ramsey will almost certainly be an Arsenal star of the future. Ashley Williams, Wayne Hennessey, Rob Earnshaw and Jack Collison, have all made the cut at the top level and Joe Ledley definitely has the potential to. How many teams ranked lower than 100 can boast that?

The Faroe Islands have never had a Champion’s League footballer. The nearest they have come to a Premier League star is Gunnar Nielsen. The Faroese goalkeeper made one Premier League appearance in 2009, when he replaced an injured Shay Given in the 76th minute, for Manchester City. He has since made a further seven league appearances – on loan at both Wrexham and Tranmere Rovers. Not that this is a slight on the country, far from it. With a population of just 50,000 this is actually fairly impressive, especially when they have only had an official national team for 23 years.

It just compounds the fact that Wales are seemingly underachieving, as on account of last nights display, they can certainly hold their own against the supposed fourth best team in the world (although how that ever came about is another matter) and were about two feet away from a big upset. 117th does not do them justice.

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