India cling to 118th in FIFA rankings

New Delhi, Mar 15 (UNI) Despite humiliation by Japan and drubbing at the hands of Yemen in the Asia Cup Qualifiers recently, India holds on to the 118th position in the latest FIFA rankings issued today.

The SAFF champions, who were beaten 0-6 by Japan at Yokohama on February 22 and lost 0-3 to Yemen here on March 1, have 381 points to their credit.

India's South Asian neighbours Bangladesh and Pakistan are in 143rd and 155th positions respectively, while Sri Lanka are in 145th, according to information received here today.

Brazil still top the list, with the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Argentina unmoved in second, third and fourth places respectively.

Just behind them, the United States of America climbed one place to fifth, their best-ever ranking, while Mexico dropped to seventh and France to eighth after a surprise loss to Slovakia on home soil.

England occupy nineth and Portugal placed 10th.

Traditional powerhouse Italy are at 12th, while World Cup hosts Germany slipped three places to 22nd.

Japan leads the pack of Asian countries to 18th, just one place ahead of fellow World Cup finalist Iran. Other World Cup finalists from Asia, South Korea and Saudi Arabia are at 31st and 34th respectivly.

Among the African countries, Nigeria, which failed to qualify for the World Cup, remain at 12th, with other non-finalists Cameroon and Egypt at 15th and 17th places respectively.

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