Soccer: NZ sure to rise in rankings

Tommy Smith. Photo / Alan Gibson

Fifa's world rankings are in for a shake-up.

There are set to be big winners and losers in the rankings post World Cup if early upsets continue. In the first 16 matches the lowest-ranked team in five of the eight groups - including the All Whites - picked up at least a point from their higher-ranked opponents.

Ten of the 16 lowest-ranked teams of the 32 cup contenders either won or drew their opening matches. The top 16 teams in South Africa are all ranked inside the top 19 nations on Fifa's list.

Hosts South Africa (ranked 83rd on the pre-World Cup list) set that ball rolling with their 1-1 draw with 17th-ranked Mexico. Ghana, lowest ranked (at 32) in group D upset Serbia (15) 1-0 and Japan (45) beat Cameroon (19) by the same score.

The difficult-to-understand ranking system may be New Zealand's friend, with their win over Serbia en route to the Cup coming into consideration alongside their efforts at the tournament.

* Goals and victories have been at a premium thus far with almost half of the 16 first-round matches ending in draws. The seven games which ended at either 0-0 or 1-1 were only four shy of the 11 draws in all 48 round-robin matches in Germany four years ago.

Goals, too, have been scarce. Those opening 16 games produced 23 goals at an average of 1.43 - well short of the 28 goals scored (at 2.37) in 2006.

Germany, who finished third in the tournament they hosted, scored 14 four years ago and have already gone to the lead as the top nation in South Africa after their 4-0 opener over world No 20 Australia. In 2006, Germany also scored their most goals in the opening round, beating Costa Rica 4-2.

* Lukas Podolski, the first to score in Germany's win over the Socceroos, is continuing from where he left off four years ago when he was named the young player of the tournament. He headed Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) and Argentina's Lionel Messi for that award.

All Whites defender Tommy Smith is among contenders this time and received glowing reports for his efforts in the 1-1 draw with Slovakia.

Open to all players born on or after January 1, 1989, 35 players are chasing the trophy.

Smith caught the eye of the judges ahead of Slovakian star Vladimir Weiss to be among the early contenders. Chris Wood is the other New Zealand player eligible for the award.

* New Zealand referees Peter O'Leary and Michael Hester have been given roles as fourth officials in the next phase.

O'Leary, in the role for the second time, is involved with this morning's group A clash between France and Mexico while Hester, who apparently made a good fist of his first World Cup appointment in the 0-0 draw between South Korea and Greece, will be the fourth official at tomorrow's game between England and Algeria.