Bafana plunge on rankings
2007-10-24 22:22
Johannesburg - Bafana Bafana - or whatever else President Thabo Mbeki and a 68% in a Kick Off Magazine poll would like to call them - received a nasty shock on Wednesday on the eve of the Cosafa Cup Final against Zambia in Bloemfontein when Fifa's new rankings revealed the South African national team had plunged to 83rd position - a 13-year low.
A 10-place decline from the previous rankings has seemingly been precipitated by a string of unimpressive recent results - namely a 3-1 home Nations Cup qualifying defeat against Zambia, a home draw against Uruguay and last week's 2-0 defeat in Siena against what was in practice the Italian B team.
Although Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has consistently stressed he is involved in a step-by-step procedure in building a team for the 2010 World Cup,dismay and alarm are increasing over the ongoing decline in the national team's ratings - which is seen as counter-active to helping matters for 2010.
The Cosafa Cup game against Zambia in Bloemfontein is also not recognised by Fifa as an official competition fixture and is therefore not likely to greatly affect the future ratings.
In contrast to Bafana's current plight, the team climbed to its best 16th position shortly after annexing the African Nations Cup at home in 1996.
South Africa are now positioned 17th in Africa
Currently the best-placed African teams are Nigeria (19th) and Cameroon (23rd) - rated number one and two on the continent. South Africa are now positioned 17th in Africa.
A change has also taken place at the top of the rankings with Argentina replacing World Cup winners Italy in the number one spot. Brazil are ranked second and Italy move down to third place.
The monthly African rankings (first figure African ranking and second figure world ranking):
Nigeria 1 19
Cameroon 2 23
Guinea 3 31
Ivory Coast 4 32
Senegal 5 34
Egypt 6 39
Mali 7 40
Morocco 8 42
Tunisia 9 43
Ghana 10 47
Zambia 11 60
Togo 12 67
Equatorial Guinea 13 72
Angola 14 73
Mozambique 15 77
Democratic Republic of Congo 16 79
South Africa 17 83
Benin 18 84
Zimbabwe 19 87
Algeria 20 89
Uganda 21 95
Kenya 22 97
Congo 23 99
Botswana 24 101
Namibia 24 101
Libya 26 104
Sudan 27 105
Tanzania 28 106
Ethiopia 29 108
Gabon 30 109
Burkina Faso 31 110
Cape Verde Islands 32 112
Gambia 32 112
Burundi 34 117
Rwanda 35 118
Eritrea 36 123
Mauritania 37 124
Malawi 38 132
Chad 39 142
Liberia 40 143
Swaziland 41 151
Mauritius 42 153
Lesotho 43 154
Sierra Leone 44 155
Niger 45 157
Madagascar 46 158
Seychelles 47 160
Comoros Islands 48 185
Central African Republic 49 188
Guinea Bissau 50 190
Somalia 51 193
Djibouti 52 200
Sao Tome e Principe 52 200
- SAPA