Eagles slip in world rankings
The Super Eagles
are now ranked 21st in the world after dropping a step in the latest
rankings released by world football governing body, FIFA yesterday.
The team however
remains Africa’s third best team as Egypt still leads the continent
sitting pretty in the 12th position after moving one step up. World Cup
bound Cameroun maintains its 19th position in the World, which makes it
Africa’s second best team.
Little changes
Only about 20
friendly matches were played worldwide in the last few weeks.
Accordingly, there were only minor changes to the latest edition of the
world rankings the last to be published before the 2010 FIFA World Cup
South Africa.
The neck-to-neck
battle for top spot between leaders; Brazil and European champions
Spain continues as the former still leads the pack.
However both teams
have a clear lead over the chasing pack of Portugal, Netherlands and
Italy who are ranked 3rd and 4th respectively.
Trailing even
farther behind, after Germany, Argentina, England and France, are two
teams not in for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa; Croatia and Russia
– who are likely to lose even more ground after the tournament.
Meanwhile, hosts
South Africa have received a boost, winning not only two friendly
matches, but also gaining seven places in the ranking (83rd, up 7),
which is more than any other team. The team coached by Brazilian Carlos
Alberto Parreira, has not lost in ten games.
The only other
teams to climb five or more places were Oman (91st, up 6) and Estonia
(99th, up 5). In the top 100, Burkina Faso (48th, up 4) and Montenegro
(64th, up 1) are currently in their highest-ever position since the
ranking was introduced.
Of the top 20 teams, only Croatia, Russia and Egypt will be absent in South Africa.
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