Bafana's 2018 World Cup opponents climb up rankings to second place on the continent

20 October 2016 - 14:57 By Nick Said

South Africa remain unchanged in 62nd place in the latest FIFA World Rankings released on Thursday having missed a major opportunity to climb the list after their 1-1 draws with Burkina Faso and Ghana this month. Bafana Bafana remain 13th on the continent‚ a figure they have hovered around for much of coach Shakes Mashaba’s two year reign‚ and well below the stated aim of SAFA to be regularly in the top three in Africa.Bafana’s next opponents in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers‚ Senegal‚ have risen to second on the continent and 32nd in the world on the back of their excellent recent form which culminated in a 2-0 victory over Cape Verde Islands earlier this month.But Bafana remain ahead of their other two pool opponents in the World Cup qualifiers‚ Burkina Faso (67th in the world) and the Cape Verdeans (71st). Ivory Coast have kept their position on top of the African rankings‚ but Algeria have slipped to third having been overtaken by Senegal.Tunisia and Ghana make up the remainder of the top five‚ followed by Egypt‚ DR Congo‚ Congo-Brazzaville‚ Mali and Cameroon.Argentina head up the global standings‚ with Germany and Brazil moving into second and third places respectively.That means a fall of two places for Belgium and one for Colombia‚ to fifth.Chile‚ France‚ Portugal‚ Uruguay and Spain round out the top 10.The biggest movers in the month were Montenegro‚ who jumped 49 places to number 56 in the world‚ while Cyprus were the worst performing side‚ falling 52 places to 139. - TMG Digital..

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