JOHANNESBURG Zimbabwe continued to slide on the FIFA Coca Cola World Ranking table with the country now ranked lower than the so-called minnows of world football. (Pictured: Where do we go from here? A pensive looking Warriors head coach Sunday Mhofu Chidzambwa appeared to be wondering to himself his side were held to a 2-all raw by minnows LesoAccording to the rankings released from Switzerland last week, The Warriors, as the underachieving national team is known, fell eleven places down the ladder and are now ranked 131 in the world.
This is the lowest ranking ever for the team, which at its peak during the Dream Team era was ranked number 40 in the world.
According to the rankings released by the world football governing body, countries such as Guetemala, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Burundi and Gambia, among others whose football fortunes are nothing to write home about, are ranked higher than the disappointing Warriors.
Analysts have attributed the slide in world rankings to Zimbabwes failure to qualify for next years African Nations Cup and the FIFA World Cup, which fellow southern African nations Angola and South Africa will host respectively.
Zimbabwe will watch the tournaments from home after an embarrassing qualification campaign that cost Brazilian-born coach Jorge Valinhos his job earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the very top of the rankings is unchanged, with Brazil retaining a narrow lead over Spain, the Netherlands and Italy.
England remains in seventh place, whereas Germany (5th, down 1) and Russia (12th, down 6) have both lost ground.
Besides Argentina (6th, up 2), Croatia (8th, up 1) and France (9th, up 1), this month’s big winners are Portugal (10th, up 7), who is back in the top 10 after a successful run of World Cup qualifying games.
In the top 50, five teams have climbed more than ten places. Particularly worthy of mention are the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, who have risen 15 places to 14th and are now the highest-ranked African team.
Currently, 23 teams have booked a place in the FIFA World Cup finals, 13 of which are ranked in the top 20. Five of the other teams in the top 20 face a play-off for a place in South Africa, while Croatia and the Czech Republic are the only teams in the top 20 who have failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.
Post published in: Politics