Nigeria improve in FIFA ranking
T@shagcy
he Super Eagles have continued to make progress in the FIFA monthly ranking as the Super Eagles have moved up one spot in the latest FIFA rankings to occupy the fifth position in Africa and 40th in the world, while Algeria have dropped out of the top 10 in Africa.
According to the latest ranking released yesterday, Nigeria moved two places from seventh to fifth in Africa and one place from 41st to 40th in the world ranking.
The Super Eagles played out a 1-1 draw with Senegal last month and were to take Burkina Faso after that but the game was cancelled due to visa issues that affected the Etalons.
Liberia were the biggest losers in the latest rankings, dropping a massive 39 places to 141st overall.
Egypt are Africa’s best-placed team in 19th, followed by Senegal, Cameroon, Burkina-Faso, Congo DR, Tunisia, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Morocco.
On the global stage, five-time world champions Brazil have returned to the top of the FIFA rankings for the first time in seven years.
Brazil have enjoyed an impressive revival since Tite replaced Dunga as their national team coach last year, winning all nine matches they have played under his leadership including eight World Cup qualifiers.
They continued their run in March with a 4-1 win in Uruguay and 3-0 win over Paraguay to become the first side to book their place at next year’s World Cup in Russia with four games to spare.
Brazil, who replaced arch-rivals Argentina at the top, previously led the rankings going into the 2010 World Cup where they were eliminated by the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.
Since then, they have suffered a string of embarrassments, with elimination by Paraguay at successive Copa America tournaments in 2011 and 2015 and their infamous 7-1 loss to Germany in the 2014 World Cup semifinal.
Argentina lost their place after last week’s 2-0 defeat in Bolivia which has left them struggling to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
Four of the top five teams in the rankings announcement by FIFA yesterday, are from South America. Chile are fourth, Colombia fifth and Germany sandwiched in between in third.