Eagles move up in world rankings
The Super Eagles
yesterday made progress, moving from 22nd position to 20th in the
latest rankings released by world football governing body, FIFA.
The Eagles however remain the third best team in Africa as Egypt maintained the top spot on the continent and 13th in the world.
Cameroon also improved on its standing by one spot, moving up to 19th in the world and second on the continent.
The current
position occupied by the Eagles is the best attained so far this year
as it was previously ranked 21st in February and 22nd in March.
It should be noted
that the Super Eagles have played just one low quality friendly match
with Congo Democratic since after the Nations Cup outing in Angola.
Portugal and North
Korea were mooted by the NFF but did not materialise while talks with
Cyprus, Wales and Iceland have only been rumoured on the pages of
newspapers.
Playing top quality grade “A” friendly matches is one of the important criteria used by FIFA in rating the teams.
Top ten teams
Meanwhile Dunga’s Brazil has replaced European champions Spain at the top of the world rankings released on Wednesday.
The upward movement
by the Samba Boys brings an end to Spain’s five-month stint at the
summit, with Vicente del Bosque’s side slipping back into second place.
Despite a topsy-turvy ride under coach Diego Maradona,
Nigeria’s World Cup
group opponent; Argentina rose two places to seventh, while Portugal
move into their highest ever placing in the rankings system in third.
Argentina’s rise
sees Fabio Capello’s England drop to eighth place, while France is down
two places to 10th. Holland is in fourth place, with Italy in fifth,
Germany sixth and Croatia ninth.
With none of the
leading countries in action in the past month, FIFA has credited the
movement inside the top 10 to “the devaluation of past results”.
According to the statement posted on the organisation’s website:
“some teams have actually gained ranking points in the past month due
to the fact that the devaluation of poor results has led to a greater
weighting of successful matches.”
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