Having struggled up front for most of the year, winning only 3 of 10 games in 2012, South Africa's men's football team has slipped again on the FIFA rankings

South Africa dropped three places to 87th in the latest Fifa world rankings, released on Wednesday, one month before they open the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament.

Bafana Bafana have picked up two victories and three defeats since head coach Gordon Igesund took the reins in June.

Having struggled up front for most of the year, winning three of 10 games in 2012, they have fallen 31 positions since January.

Their latest rating leaves Bafana, who also slipped two places to 23rd among African nations, as the lowest-ranked team in Group A ahead of the Afcon tournament, and 12th of 16 teams in the continental competition.

Cape Verde Islands, their opponents in the January 19 opener in Johannesburg, are rated 69th, Morocco are 74th and Angola are 84th.

Spain remain top of the global rankings, and Ivory Coast, lying 14th overall, head the list among African teams.

South Africa play their first of three Afcon warm-up matches against Malawi in Durban on Saturday.

AFRICA'S BEST: (first number is Africa ranking, next is the world ranking): 

Ivory Coast 1 14 

Algeria 2 19 

Mali 3 25 

Ghana 4 30 

Zambia 5 34 

Egypt 6 41 

Gabon 7 42 

Tunisia 8 45 

Central African Republic 9 52 

Nigeria 10 52 

Next Up are:

Libya 11 54 - Guinea 12 60 - Cameroon 13 61 - Sierra Leone 14 62 - Cape Verde Islands 15 69 

Togo 16 71  - Morocco 17 74 - Benin 18 75 - Senegal 19 77 - Equatorial Guinea 20 79 

Angola 21 84  - Uganda 22 84 - South Africa 23 87 - Burkina Faso 24 89 - Sudan 25 101 

Zimbabwe 26 101  - Burundi 27 104 - Niger 28 105 - Democratic Republic of Congo 29 107 - Congo Brazzaville 30 109 

Ethiopia 31 110 - Malawi 32 111 - Liberia 33 112 - Mozambique 34 112 - Sao Tome e Principe 35 119 

Botswana 36 121  - Namibia 37 121 - Tanzania 38 130 - Kenya 39 134 - Rwanda 40 134 - Chad 41 140 

Gambia 42 141  - Lesotho 43 159 - Guinea-Bissau 44 174 - Swaziland 45 178 - Madagascar 46 179 - Comoros Islands 47 194

Somalia 48 195  - Eritrea 49 196 - Seychelles 50 196 - South Sudan 51 199 - Djibouti 52 202 - Mauritius 53 202 - Mauritania 54 206

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