Posted by Patrick Omorodion on
Nigeria and Angola who are jostling for the lone ticket of Group 4 for the Germany 2006 FIFA World Cup continued their downward slide on the monthly FIFA ranking with a couple of weeks to the next round of qualifying matches.
Nigeria and Angola who are jostling for the lone ticket of Group 4 for the Germany 2006 FIFA World Cup continued their downward slide on the monthly FIFA ranking with a couple of weeks to the next round of qualifying matches.
While Nigeria slid one step to move to the 30th position from 29 in the world last month and number three in the continent behind Egypt and Cameroon, Angola suffered a setback of three steps to drop to 71 from 68 last month and 14 in Africa behind Togo and Ghana who occupy position 12 and 13 in Africa respectively.
In the last one month, Angola were engaged in the Cosafa Cup where they lost to eventual winners 2-1 in the semi final while the a wholly home-based Super Eagles engaged a Benin selected side whom they walloped 6-0 at the Abuja National Stadium Wednesday last week
Both sides really warming up for the last ditch effort to secure the lone World Cup ticket were in friendly actions last night when the Eagles took on Libya while the Angolans tested their strategy with Cape Verde.
Still on the FIFA ranking, Egypt who maintain their top position in Africa remained stagnant with no point gain and 26th in the world while Cameroon also suffered a step drop from 27 to 28 in the world but still second in Africa.
The biggest gainers in Africa are the Zambians who lost the Cosafa Cup to Zimbabwe last Saturday as they moved from 62nd last month to 56th this month and 10th in Africa. Zimbabwe gained two steps to move to 51 in the world and 9th in Africa.
Also in the top 10 bracket in Africa are Tunisia, Morocco, South Africa, Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire at 4th , 5th, 6th ,7th and 8th respectively. Ghana who are n the verge of making their debut at the World Cup are still tagging behind at 70th in th world.
World Champions, Brazil and five others, Argentina, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Mexico and the United States in that order, all gained no point in the month under consideration but occupy the top six positions.