We are now....

Brillant achievement for a small country like us, in which soccer isnt even the main sport.

I know everyone says the rankings are not very indicative of how good countries really are, but one thing I noticed seems to make no sense at all.

Scotland have played one game in 2012 - a 1-1 draw away to Slovenia (ranked 28th)
Wales have played one game in 2012 - a 0-1 defeat at home to Costa Rica (ranked 59th)

For 2012, Scotland have 329.8 points, while Wales have 474.3. How do they possibly work that out?

source: http://www.fifa.com/worldranking/rankingtable/index.html

I can nevet understand the rankings but we are up to 19th

We're unbeaten in 12 matches and at this years Euro Finals so we deserve to be up there

19TH eh ?, well Looohhhd , Looohhhd Above, let's move before they raise the parkin rate,, aaaalll right now,, baby , it's uh alright now.

Yeah, I know everyone on here likes to abuse Whelan and Andrews on a weekly basis, but they certainly deserve credit for this!

It's the midfield duo's protection of that back four that has enabled us to become such a solid team defensively, getting the results we need and in turn climbing to our highest ranking since the end of the McCarthy days.

High ranking means no more deadly qualification groups

Trap will get his revenge for the "hand of frog"!

We will meet the French!

Though the rankings do seem strange at times, there is no denying this is a wonderful achievement for the Republic, especially when you consider the state they were in a few years ago!

How much of it is down to Trapp? Personally I dont rate him that highly, however theres no arguing with success and you never know, I could actually be wrong! Being backward, I prefer to see an Irishman in charge of an Irish team. Maybe Michael O Neill could take over the Republic as well as the North and unite both teams! What would our rating be then I wonder!