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Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
THE Warriors continued with their “yoyo lifestyle” on the Fifa rankings when they dropped two points to return to their February position of 102 on the latest Fifa/Coca-Cola World Rankings. Ranked 100th on the world stage before their international friendly against lowly ranked Malawi early this month, the Ian Gorowa-coached side dropped a place in Africa from 27 to 28 after the 67 matches played worldwide in the period under review.
The latest rankings also show Southern African countries’ status in continental football as the best ranked country in the region, South Africa is 12th in Africa and 64th on the world stage, followed by former Nations Cup winners and 2019 bidders, Zambia who are 74th in the world.
Generally, the March edition of the rankings has seen somewhat less movement compared to last month, with Spain, Germany, Argentina, Portugal and Colombia remaining unchanged in the top five.
Close behind them are Uruguay (sixth, up one) and Switzerland (seventh, down one), while Belgium (10th, up one) have jumped up into the top 10 at the expense of the Netherlands (11th, down by one place). Meanwhile England (12th, up three) and Russia (19th, up three) have made good progress in the top 20.
Further down the table, Egypt are on the up. Their friendly victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina (21st, down four) and the devaluation of last year’s defeat by Qatar have helped them climb 12 positions to 26th.
Six other teams have also managed to climb 10 or more places; Vietnam (125th, up 18), Comoros (183rd, up 15), Iraq (103rd, up 11), Afghanistan (127th, up 11), Aruba (162nd, up 10) and the Faroe Islands (162nd, up 10).
Afghanistan are not only among the biggest climbers this month, but also together with Panama (29th, up three) they are the only ones able to celebrate reaching their highest position since the launch of the Fifa/Coca-Cola World Ranking.
Two additional teams from Uefa have made it into the top 50, bringing Uefa’s total to 28. This means that South America is down to eight top-50 teams, with Paraguay dropping out of the top 50 to 59th position (down 10). The number of top-50 teams from the other confederations is unchanged from last month (Caf with eight, Concacaf with five, AFC with two and OFC with 0).
Of the 67 matches taken into account, 57 were friendlies. The other 10 games were AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, which brings the total number of matches evaluated so far this year to 122.
Summary
Leader Spain (unchanged)
Moves into top ten : Belgium (10th, up one) Moves out of top ten : Netherlands (11th, down one)
Matches played in total 67
Most matches played : Iran,Iraq, Jamaica, Lebanon, Lesotho, Malaysia, Philippines, Swaziland (2 matches each)
Biggest move by points Egypt (up 61 points) Biggest move by ranks : Vietnam (up 18 ranks) Biggest drop by points : Myanmar (down 132 points)
Biggest drop by ranks : Myanmar (down 43 ranks)
Online Reporter