Despite churning out an impressive
4-1 victory over two time world
champions, Argentina in an
international friendly match in the
period under review, the Super
Eagles of Nigeria still continued in its
downward slide in the monthly FIFA
rankings released Wednesday.
The Eagles who were previously
ranked 39th in the world slipped
two steps down yet again to now
occupy the 41st spot while still
maintaining their status as the 5th
highest ranked football playing
country on the African continent.
The team has however been
overtaken by the Stallions of Burkina
Faso on the ladder; a situation many
still find difficult to believe.
"Well I don't know how they arrive
at this their rankings monthly; I hear
that England is also ahead of Brazil,
how they do their calculations and
what they consider is only clear to
them" Garba Lawal a former Super
Eagles player told NEXTSports.
Currently, the Elephants of Cote D
Ivoire are the kings of Africa having
moved above the Black Stars of
Ghana to become the top side in the
continent according to the latest
rankings. The Elephants moved up
7 places, to their highest ever world
ranking of 14, as Ghana dropped to
the 18th spot.
The Black Stars' sudden drop is
partly due to the devaluation of the
first phase of matches from the
World Cup last year in South Africa.
The biggest movers on the rankings
were Zimbabwe who leapt 39
places, to 87th globally and 22nd on
the continent.
Other African sides who made big
gains on the latest list are Liberia
(125th, up 32), Comoros (164th, up
24), Sierra Leone (95th, up 23) and
Central African Republic (91st, up 22)
.
Despite the devaluation of the World
Cup matches Spain stay at number
1 overall.
Among the top ten teams, only
leaders Spain and closest
challengers the Netherlands have
retained their positions. Brazil, third
last month, have lost points and
places (5th, down 2), and the
pecking order has also changed
further down.
Mexico have gained 19 places thanks
to their victory at the CONCACAF
Gold Cup and have rocketed back
into the top ten for the first time
since July 2007.
Moving in the other direction are
Uruguay (18th, down 11), who have
dropped out of the top ten after
being particularly badly affected by
the devaluation of their successful
group-stage matches at South
Africa 2010.
October 17, 2010, 03:28:59 PM