Originally Posted by Mark F:
“We've probably gone back up after 4 wins in a row...”
Still 20th. Went up to 18th after two of those wins and have gone back down to 20th again as they don't give out many ranking points for beating San Marino.
That said, looking at the rankings the teams that have overtook England in that period didn't exactly play any powerhouses either. Algeria moved from 20th to 15th on the back of beating 109th ranked Malawi twice. Ukraine moved from 24th to 19th for beating Macedonia (99) and Belarus (96).
Estonia are ranked 88, and England got more points in that match than Algeria or Ukraine did in either of theirs. However, San Marino are 208 in the world and England got considerably less than Ukraine and Algeria for their wins in that one.
It's all really close. Scotland are 36, Slovenia 37 - wins in the next 2 for England would give a good amount of points and probably see a leap up the rankings. The Slovenia one is worth more of course as it's a qualifier.