England dropped four places to eighth in the latest FIFA rankings released on Wednesday with Uruguay, Portugal, Italy and Brazil overhauling Fabio Capello’s side in standings, according to the AFP.
The AFP further reports that the World and European champion Spain leapfrogged Holland to take back the top spot following a friendly win over Chile and a Euro 2012 drubbing of Liechtenstein.[break]
Germany remains in third place with July’s Copa America champion Uruguay fourth.
The Dutch had taken top spot last month after Spain had held the position for over a year prior to a friendly loss to Italy which allowed Holland to become, albeit briefly, the seventh team to occupy the top spot after Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Brazil slipped one place to seventh despite a recent friendly win over Ghana and a goalless draw with neighbor Argentina, which is tenth. France is up to 12th, its best placing under Laurent Blanc, who took charge after last year’s disastrous World Cup showing.
Meanwhile, Nepal climbed the ranking table without playing any international match in the review period of about a month. Nepal still leads the ranking among the south Asian nations followed by Bangladesh on 138th position.
Nepal’s current ranking is the second best overall standing since the rankings were introduced in 1993. Back then, Nepal ranked 124.
India, on the other hand slumped four spots to 162. The ranking of other south Asian nations are as follows: the Maldives (165), Pakistan (170), Sri Lanka (176), Afghanistan (183) and Bhutan (200).
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