Scots slip ten places in latest Fifa rankings
Scotland drop ten places to 26th in latest Fifa world rankings
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Wednesday, 08, Oct 2008 01:21
Scotland have dropped ten places in the latest Fifa world rankings and now sit 26th overall.
The Scots' total rankings points suffered from a 1-0 defeat to Macedonia in their opening 2010 World Cup qualifier last month, although the deficit was eased slightly with a 2-1 win in Iceland the following week.
Scotland's new ranking means they now fall below the USA, Egypt and Paraguay, among others.
George Burley's side now sit 12 places behind rivals England, after Fabio Capello's men improved by one place courtesy of a 100 per cent record to open their World Cup qualifying group.
An uninspiring 2-0 win over minnows Andorra was followed by an impressive 4-1 victory over Croatia in Zagreb - imposing a first-ever competitive home defeat on Slaven Bilic's side and moving England up to 14th.
There is no change in Fifa's top three, with Spain still top of the pile followed by Italy and Germany.
Brazil moved up two places to fourth while Netherlands and Croatia both slipped one spot to fifth and sixth, respectively.
Russia are the only new entrants to the top ten, moving up three places to ninth, with Portugal dropping a place to tenth and Turkey slipping three spots and out of the elite nations to 13th.
Among the other nations of the British Isles, Northern Ireland slipped three places to 35th in the world after a home draw with Czech Republic and an away defeat to Slovakia last month, while the Republic of Ireland are unchanged in 38th despite a win and a draw in away matches against Georgia and Montenegro, respectively.
Wales have dropped eight places to 61st, despite suffering only a narrow defeat to Russia and beating Azerbaijan in their last two games.
Full Fifa top ten (and selected others):
1- Spain
2- Italy
3- Germany
4- Brazil
5- Netherlands
6- Croatia
7- Argentina
8- Czech Republic
9- Russia
10- Portugal
- - - - - - - - - - - -
14- England
26- Scotland
35- Northern Ireland
38- Republic of Ireland
61- Wales