England suffer seeding blow
Under McClaren, England dropped from fifth to 12th in the rankings
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Friday, 23, Nov 2007 06:07
England will be among the second seeds for the World Cup qualifying draw after failing to qualify for Euro 2008, it has been confirmed.
World governing body Fifa has released its updated world rankings, which shows the Three Lions have dropped another place to 12th overall and tenth within the European confederation.
Euro 2004 winners Greece are the latest team to move above England, as they jumped three places to 11th.
This means England will be placed in the second pot for this Sunday's World Cup qualifying draw, meaning they will be placed in a group featuring one of the continent's top teams.
Following a relatively successful Euro 2008 qualifying campaign Scotland will join the English among the second seeds, meaning they cannot be drawn in the same group.
The Scots ultimately finished outside the top two but in the toughest group - one that featured 2006 World Cup finalists Italy and France and quarter-finalists Ukraine.
And their ranking has been boosted from 60th two years ago to 14th in the world now, meaning they are promoted from being a fourth seed in the last European Championship qualifying draw to a second seed.
A similarly promising campaign from Northern Ireland sees them up to 32nd in the world, with the Republic of Ireland two places behind in 34th. This puts both teams from the Emerald Isle among the third seeds.
Wales, whose ranking from October has remained the same (58th), will be in the fourth pot.
At the top of the world rankings there is no change as Argentina held onto top spot ahead of South American rivals Brazil in second.
World champions Italy are third followed by Spain, who move up two places and replace France, who fell three spots.
Germany remain fifth while the Czech Republic climbed three places to sixth. After France, Portugal, the Netherlands and Croatia complete the top ten teams.
Full Fifa world top 20:
1- Argentina
2- Brazil
3- Italy
4- Spain
5- Germany
6- Czech Republic
7- France
8- Portugal
9- Netherlands
10- Croatia
11- Greece
12- England
13- Romania
14- Scotland
15- Mexico
16- Turkey
17- Colombia
18- Bulgaria
19- USA
20- Nigeria