England drop out of top ten
England fans have had little to cheer lately
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Wednesday, 18, Jul 2007 11:43
The latest Fifa world rankings have been released, with England dropping four places to 12th.
A relatively disappointing qualifying campaign for the 2008 European Championships has contributed to the team's decline, along with a devaluation of the ranking points accrued for the run to the quarter-finals of the World Cup last summer.
The declining importance of World Cup points also took its toll on the rankings of the Ivory Coast (down 11 places to 31st), Ghana (down 18 places to 37th) and Switzerland (down 20 places to 45th).
Meanwhile Brazil have taken over from Italy at the top of the rankings following their successful defence of the Copa America title last week.
World Cup holders Italy drop into third behind Argentina – beaten finalists in the South American tournament, who go up three places ahead of France (fourth) and Germany (fifth).
England's Euro qualifying opponents Croatia are into the top ten, rising four places to seventh, while Mexico are the biggest movers – climbing 16 places to take tenth place in the rankings after finishing third at the Copa.
Uruguay, the team Mexico beat in the third-place play-off at the weekend, also climb 11 places to 19th overall.
The rest of the home nations had better fortunes than England.
Scotland are up one place to 22nd, despite being inactive in the last month. Northern Ireland also climb one place to 28th in the world – their highest-ever position in the world order.
Neighbours Republic of Ireland drop one place to 39th while Wales are up one place in the rankings to 74th.
Full Fifa top 20:
1- Brazil
2- Argentina
3- Italy
4- France
5- Germany
6- Netherlands
7- Croatia
8- Portugal
9- Spain
10- Mexico
11- Czech Republic
12- England
13- Romania
14- USA
15- Cameroon
16- Greece
=17- Serbia
=17- Ukraine
19- Uruguay
20- Sweden