NEWSNOWWorld Club Rankings Top 25 – 18 Aug 08 – Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona
I think we can say that we are now well underway to the start of the season. Action kicked off again in England, Germany and Argentina this past weekend and picks up in Portugal this coming weekend. We also have Super Cup action in the Netherlands, Italy and Spain on the horizon and it’s just another couple weeks before those nations are full throttle again. Oh, how I’ve missed it.
This week’s WCR Top 25 does not provide a great difference from last week’s. This is a data-driven countdown. As I explained in the Pre-Season Edition of the Top 25, for the first five weeks of each domestic league’s new season, data from this season will be added to data from last season in order to work the numbers. The reasons for this are clear after just a week or two as it is obviously too early to put clubs like Hull City and Grenoble in my top ten. That’s not to say they won’t make it (although, it’s probably a safe bet that they won’t), it’s just that there needs to be additional data before they qualify for a ranking.
The result is that Manchester United is still in the pole position, though it maintained the apex by only the skin of its teeth after managing only a draw at home against Newcastle United. There has been some movement in the rankings – and that movement will become very fluid after each club has played at least five matches, but for this week, the list is pretty static. Still, this is an opportunity to link to stories of the weekend’s action and highlight what is coming up in the coming week. Enjoy.
World Club Rankings – Top 25 – August 18, 2008
1. Manchester United (Eng) (1) – How badly do they miss Cristiano Ronaldo. While it’s true that Shay Given played well, Man United looked like a team in desperate need of a striker in its 1-1 draw with Newcastle United. Another match like this and Manchester United can forget about the top spot, defending European Champions or not. United is off until next Monday when they travel to Portsmouth for their next Premiership match.
2. Inter Milan (Ita) (2) – No matches of any significance this past week. That changes on Sunday when Inter takes on fellow powerhouse Roma in the Italian Super Cup.
3. Real Madrid (Esp) (3) – Real Madrid fell 2-3 to Valencia in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup. On Saturday, Real Madrid will get a chance to seek revenge against their Spanish foes in the final tune up for the Primera Division season.
4. Chelsea (Eng) (5) – Chelsea moves up a notch by crushing poor Portsmouth 4-0 in both clubs’ Premiership debut. Chelsea is on the verge of moving up three more notches following Manchester United’s stumble. Chelsea’s victim, I mean opponent, this coming weekend is Wigan Athletic.
5. Bayern Munchen (Ger) (4) – Bayern could not hold on to a 2-0 lead against a tough Hamburger team this past weekend in a match that ended in a 2-2 draw. Bayern will look to bounce back this weekend when it takes on Borussia Dortmund.
6. Roma (Ita) (6) – Like Inter, Roma is coming off of a week in which it saw no action of significance, but that ends this weekend when last year’s two top clubs in Italy’s Serie A face off in the Italian Super Cup.
7. Arsenal (Eng) (7) – Arsenal is far off from reaching Manchester United themselves in the two-year aggregate numbers after defeating West Bromwich Albion 1-0. This was after Arsenal defeated FC Twente 2-0 in the Netherlands to take an overwhelming lead in the Champions League qualifiers. Arsenal hits the road this weekend to take on Fulham in Premier League action.
8. Gremio (Bra) (8) – Gremio looked lackluster against fellow-Brazilian club Internacional in its 1-1 draw in the Copa Sudamericana, but was able to defeat defending Serie A champion Sao Paolo 1-0 in domestic action this weekend, extending its lead. This week sees Gremio playing two away matches in three days when it takes on Flamengo and Nautico in Brasileiro Serie A action.
9. Porto (Por) (9) – Porto fell 0-2 to Sporting CP in Portugal’s Super Cup action this past weekend, but it’ll take more than that to drop Porto out after its dominant performance in the bwin Liga last year. The new season starts this weekend when Porto takes on Os Belenenses.
10. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) (12) – PSV moves up two notches despite doing nothing of note over the past week. Funny how that happens sometimes. This weekend, PSV will play a match of note when it takes on Feyenoord in the Dutch Super Cup.
11. Juventus (Ita) (10) – Juve defeated Slovakian club Artmedia Petrzalka 4-0 to all but secure its advancement to the group stage of the Champions League. No matches of note take place for Juventus in the upcoming week.
12. Lyon (Fra) (11) – Lyon could manage no more than a goalless draw against Lorient this past weekend. The hiccup puts Grenoble on top of the Ligue Un standings two weeks into the season. Lyon will try to remedy that when they host Grenoble on Saturday.
13. Werder Bremen (Ger) (13) – Like archrival Bayern Munich, Bremen could manage only a 2-2 draw against Arminia Bielefeld in its Bundesliga premier this past weekend. In what should be one of the matches of the week, Bremen hosts Schalke 04 on Saturday in domestic action.
14. Villarreal (Esp) (14) – Nothing of significance took place on the field for Villarreal this past week and I don’t expect anything in the coming week, either.
15. Liverpool (Eng) (15) – ‘Pool bounced back from a disappointing goalless draw against Standard Liege in Champions League qualifying action to defeat Sunderland 1-0 in its opening Premiership match. Liverpool tries to build on that success at home this weekend against Middlesbrough.
16. Barcelona (Esp) (16) – Barcelona defeated Wisla Krakow handily, 4-0, in its first Champions League match of the season, before defeating Boca Juniors (I’m sorry for mentioning a friendly) over the weekend. There are no consequential matches involving Barca this week.
17. Ajax (Ned) (17) – There were no noteworthy matches involving Ajax this week and there are none upcoming.
18. Celtic (Sco) (18) – Celtic slipped up a little this past weekend scoring only a 1-1 draw against Dundee United. This weekend’s SPL match for Celtic is at home against Falkirk.
19. Cruzeiro (Bra) (19) – Cruzeiro maintained second place in the Brasileiro Serie A with a 4-1 defeat of Vitoria. Cruzeiro plays two interesting away matches this week in domestic action against Botafogo and Santos.
20. Schalke 04 (Ger) (20) – Unlike the other ranked German teams, Schalke was impressive in its opening Bundesliga match, scoring a 3-0 victory over Hannover 96. This victory was on the heels of Schalke’s 1-0 defeat of Atletico de Madrid in the best Champions League qualifying matchup of the year. Before Schalke plays the return match against Atletico, it will have to face Werder Bremen in a battle of ranked clubs.
21. Bordeaux (Fra) (21) – Bordeaux went to Paris and fell to PSG 0-1 in Ligue Un action, making its spot in the rankings that much more tenuous. Bordeaux needs to bounce back this weekend and will look to do that when they host Nantes on Sunday.
22. Fiorentina (Ita) (22) – Fiorentina defeated Slavia Praha 2-0 to take a big step towards the Champions League group stage. This week, there are no consequential matches involving Fiorentina.
23. AC Milan (Ita) (24) – AC Milan is pretty much idle, at least as far as significant matches are concerned, until the beginning of the Italian Serie A in a few weeks.
24. Everton (Eng) (23) – Like Manchester United, Everton is holding on to this position based on last season’s numbers and not by virtue of its 2-3 defeat at the hands of Blackburn Rovers. Everton should be able to improve on that result against West Bromwich Albion, but they appear to be on the verge of exiting the Top 25.
25. Palmeiras (Bra) (NR) – Palmeiras returns to the rankings despite falling 1-3 to Vasco da Gama in the Copa Libertadores by virtue of its 1-0 defeat of Coritiba this weekend. As they try to hold back the Brazilian clubs knocking on its third-place door, Palmeiras takes on Internacional and Portuguesa in the upcoming week.
Bubbling Under (alphabetically): Atletico de Madrid (Esp), Boca Juniors (Arg), Rangers (Sco), River Plate (Arg), Sevilla (Esp)
Next Five CONMEBOL: (32) Botafogo (Bra), (33) CD Olmedo (Ecu), (41) Sao Paolo (Bra), (42) River Plate (Uru), (49) Flamengo (Bra)
In Association with our Friends at Worldclubrankings
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Great week for Olivia2008 with a total of 40 points on week 1
Can you beat Olivia2008 on Week 2 – Click HERE to enter your predictions
This post was submitted by Worldclubrankings.
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Where are “Top 4″ Totenham????
haha thats a good 1!! Liverpool are officially the best team in Europe according to Eufas rankings list which works on the performances of teams in the last 5 years not based on the 1st game of the season whats a joke
@Hamza
The WCR is not based on the 1st game of the season, if it was then Chelsea would be top, you obviously cant read, next time we will draw pictures for you!
this is the biggest amount of tiddlywinks on the internet ur tellin me inter milan (after they were comfortabley beated bye lfc) are the second best team in the world man u cooden beat newcastle without ronaldo lfc 14!!! if we reach the semis we will be officaly number one in the uefa rankings even if man u win ever trophy in the world….one word for this cluedo
I want to talk about Oboa for a miunte…….thank GOD that we didnt end up with someone who turned us down for friggin Tynecastle…..Nuff said – Knock yourself out mate – go dominate the Scottish league, feel good about how you havent put yourself thru a true test…..End your career playing ‘the Thistle’ away on a snowy day infront of 12 men and a dog….Thats what happens when you listen to agents. Hope we make a good solid signing before the end of the month….I am still seething over this Shite, cannot believe it.
@Jay
His week trial at West Ham turned out to be a waste of West Hams time, Obua was not up to scratch and with the problems with working visa, West Ham decided they didnt want him, hence he went to Hearts and pretended he was only ever interested in playing for them, that would be like Ronaldo saying he always wanted to play for Milwall.
Still we have a new lad on trials this week, he has come over from Tobago and plays for the Warriors check out the post about it.
http://cmonyuirons.com/2008/08/17/warrior-midfielder-arriving-at-west-ham-on-wednesday/