England up one in Fifa rankings as Ghana join Scots in 14th
Fabio Capello's side already up in world rankings after just one game
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Wednesday, 13, Feb 2008 12:14
England have moved up one place to 11th in the latest Fifa world rankings after Croatia's 3-0 home defeat to the Netherlands last week.
The defeat, coupled with England's 2-1 win over Euro 2008 co-hosts Switzerland in Fabio Capello's first game in charge, meant the Croats dropped two spots to 12th overall.
England still find themselves outside the top ten behind Greece after the latest rankings list was unveiled today.
But the reigning European champions' rise into the world's elite teams is the only change at the top, meaning Argentina still hold the number one spot from South American rivals Brazil in second and world champions Italy in third.
Scotland are unchanged in 14th position, although they now share that spot with Africa Cup of Nations hosts Ghana.
Their run to the semi-finals of the biennial tournament boosted their ranking by 29 places, while the Cup of Nations also did wonders for the world rankings of a number of other African sides.
Fellow semi-finalists Ivory Coast are up 14 places to 24th, while finalists Cameroon jumped eight spots to 17th in the world.
The tournament winners Egypt gained six places to move into the world's top 30 at 29th.
The biggest losers from the Nations Cup were Nigeria, whose ranking slumped 26 places as they failed to make much of an impact at the tournament and are now 45th in the world.
Guinea's ranking also fell by 14 places, putting them two spots behind Nigeria in 47th.
Wales' ranking was boosted by their 3-0 friendly victory over Norway last week, moving them up four places to 54th in the world.
The Republic of Ireland are unchanged in 36th position, while neighbours Northern Ireland are down two places to 34th following their home friendly defeat to Bulgaria.
Full Fifa rankings top 20:
1- Argentina
2- Brazil
3- Italy
4- Spain
5- Germany
6- Czech Republic
7- France
8- Portugal
9- Netherlands
10- Greece
11- England
12- Croatia
13- Romania
=14- Scotland
=14- Ghana
16- Mexico
17- Cameroon
18- Turkey
19- Bulgaria
20- Poland