(Photo of a man at the site of Wales' 2-1 defeat of England in 1955, bearing the unofficial symbol of Wales, the leek. Photo credit: Geoff Charles.)
Oh, what a glorious day to be a Welsh Dragon. Since its inception in 1876, the Welsh national side has perennially played second fiddle to mighty England. But today, Wales officially surpassed England in the FIFA rankings—with Wales standing at 9 and their oppressors standing at 10. Llongyfarchiadau, as they say.
FIFA rankings were only introduced in 1992, which is still a long time for Wales to trail England. And let's remember that England is a nation that claims ownership of the sport, hypes each World Cup team up to be the greatest in the history of existence, and denounceseverythingthey've ever stood for at the slightest whiff of failure. So this is a fairly momentous occasion for Wales.Top that all off with a 1-0 win over Cyprus today in European qualifiers:
So what caused Wales' jump in rankings? Not enough can be said about the brilliance of Real Madrid's Gareth Bale, obviously. But Arsenal's Aaron Ramsey ain't so bad himself, nor Liverpool's Joe Allen. (Please forgive the archetypal cannon of highlight reel medleys.)While you could say that FIFA rankings are subject to the same kind of favoritism and ridiculum that the organization is known for, FIFA is one of the few global governing bodies that recognizes Wales as an independent nation. So when you look at it that way, Wales is probably pretty grateful for Sepp.
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