Soccer News of Sunday, 16 March 2014

Source: standard-tribune.com

Cameroon drop five spots in March FIFA rankings

Cameroon have lost five places in the March 2014 FIFA Coca Cola Classification/World Rankings.

Cameroon thus move from the 46th to the 50th position, which they shares with Slovakia.

The poor rating appears to be the outcome of Cameroon’s heavy 1 to 5 defeat against Portugal on March 5 in an international friendly.

The Indomitable Lions with 588 points only are 8th in Africa.

Cameroon rose sharply in the FIFA classification table last year due to their brilliant World Cup qualification.

Of the 32 teams qualified for the World Cup, Cameroon is right at the 30th position, ahead of the Republic of Korea (60th) and Australia (63rd). Absent from the Top 20, Africa has eight places in the top 50. The first African team on the classification is Ivory Coast at 24 while Algeria (25th) gained one spot.

Ghana (35th) won two places and Nigeria maintained a status quo compared to the February rankings (47th).

Outside the World Cup finalists, Egypt (26th) won 12 spots, making her the best rise on the continent. Cape Verde (33rd) and Tunisia (44th) are also ranked higher than Cameroon. The Top 10 on the rankings have seen no major change. Spain, Germany, Argentina, Portugal and Colombia occupy the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th places while Belgium joins the Top 10 at the expense of the Netherlands, now 11th.

The 57 friendly matches played a forth night ago were largely taken into account in the classification.

FIFA also has took into account ten eliminatory games for the Asian Cup.

In the absence of friendlies in the coming weeks, the April 10 rankings would witness no particularly change in the FIFA rankings.