Defeat at Wembley will make Scotland the best home nation

The latest FIFA Rankings were published today, and England sit in lowly fifteenth place (down from ninth last month), while Scotland have climbed a spot to reach sixteenth.

The drop has occured because the rankings are calculated by the last four year’s of results, and England’s relatively solid Euro 2004 performance has just fallen out of range. The biggest concern for England fans, however, is that Scotland could overtake them if they fail to beat the Czech Republic at Wembley on August 20th. On the same day, the Scots are hosting Northern Ireland, and only a victory against the Czechs will ensure the chaps from above Hadrian’s Wall don’t jump ahead in the rankings for the first time since 1995.

On the one hand, this is a potentially huge embarrassment for the English. On the other, the FIFA rankings are an irrelevant waste of time and nobody cares.