Bafana drop down the Fifa rankings after costly defeat to Madagascar
Image: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
South Africa’s disappointing home draw with Madagascar in the 2018 COSAFA Cup quarterfinals on Sunday has cost them two places in the attest FIFA Word Rankings released on Thursday.
Bafana Bafana have slipped to number 74 in the world and are 15th on the African continent‚ but remain the highest placed side in the COSAFA region.
Bafana followed up the Malagasy result with a fine 4-1 victory over Namibia‚ but it was not enough to move them up the rankings.
Their opponents in Friday’s Plate final of the COSAFA Cup are Botswana‚ who moved up three places to be ranked at number 139 in the world.
Tunisia remain the top ranked African side at number 21‚ while the other World Cup-bound teams from the continent are Senegal (27)‚ Morocco (41)‚ Egypt (45) and Nigeria (48).
There was no change in the top five in the global list as defending champions Germany head into the World Cup as the top-ranked side‚ followed by Brazil‚ Belgium‚ Portugal and Argentina.