adminSikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Warriors continued with their free fall on the world stage after the latest Fifa/ Coca-Cola World Rankings released by the world body yesterday morning. The Klaus-Dieter Pagels coached under-achievers are now ranked a distant 114 on the world stage from 102 last month and are in the same bracket with Fifa Confederations Cup holiday makers Tahiti.
On the continental rankings Zimbabwe find themselves the 31st team, one rung above Malawi and way off neighbours, South Africa and Cosafa Cup hosts Zambia.
Following their 2-4 loss to Egypt in a World Cup qualifier, the worst performance at home since Independence and another loss to Guinea in which they went down 0-1 a week later, the Warriors were always bound to crash down the rankings ladder.
Unless something dramatic happens between now and the next rankings release date on 8 August, all indications point to a historical below 131 rankings for the boys who at one time during the revered Dream Team era under the late talismanic Reinhard Fabisch were one of Africa’s top 10 squads.
Despite seeing the Nations Cup eluding them during the era of the likes of Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure and brother Yaya, Cote d’Ivore still cling to the top of the continental rankings and 13th on the world stage followed by Asamoah Gyan’s Ghana.
On the world stage Brazil’s stunning victory over Spain in the Fifa Confederation Cup final has helped reap a 13-place leap to ninth. Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side won all five of their matches at the tournament and defeated France in a preparatory friendly, to collect an unrivalled 223 points over the past month.
Losing finalists Spain nevertheless held on to pole position ahead of Germany, while Colombia climbed four places to a best of third thanks to some impressive performances in the Fifa World Cup qualifiers. Belgium (10th, up two) celebrated entering the top ten for the first time in history.
Belgium is base to former Highlanders players Vusa Nyoni and Honour Gombami who play club football there.
Participating in the Confederations Cup paid off for two other semi-finalists, as Uruguay (12th, up seventh) and Italy (sixth, up two) gained ground, although the other competing teams, Mexixo (20th, down three), Nigeria (35th, down four), Japan (37th, down five) and Tahiti (154th, down 16), have all fallen.
The ongoing Brazil 2014 qualifiers and a number of friendlies have seen no fewer than seven teams rise more than 20 places.
In addition to the 16 Fifa Confederations Cup games, 89 World Cup qualifiers and 29 friendlies were played in the past month, bringing the total number of international ‘A’ matches taken into account this year to 440.
Online Reporter