Nigeria may not be seeded for the final group phase of the Russia 2018 World Cup qualifiers as the country dropped five places from 62 to 67 in the April world rankings released by FIFA on Thursday.
The seeding for the World Cup qualifiers would be done in June and it would involve the top five ranked teams on the continent by then while the other countries would be drawn behind them. The final phase of qualifying involves 20 teams who scaled through the preliminary phase of the qualifiers. The winners of the five groups would represent Africa in Russia in 2018.
With their ouster from the AFCON qualifiers, the Eagles now have 534 points as against the 547 points they garnered in March.According to the latest rankings, the Super Eagles, who crashed out of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, plummeted five places from 62 in the world to the 67th position and are now 14th in Africa as against the 11th position they occupied in March.
On the continent, Algeria, who were ranked third in March, are now the first team in Africa. They have 771 points to move four spots up from 37th to 33rd in the world. Ivory Coast are in second place with 738 points to move from 36th to 34th. Ghana, who are 38th in the world, are third on the continent.
Senegal with 651 points and 43rd position in the world are fourth. Egypt, who top Nigeria’s 2017 AFCON qualifying group, are in fifth position. The Pharaohs, who are 44th in the world, moved from the seventh position in March. They are behind Cape Verde, who occupied the second place last month. Cape Verde dropped 16 places to 47th and are sixth in Africa alongside Tunisia, who retained the 47th spot they occupied in March. DR Congo, Guinea and Congo complete the top 10 on the continent. Cameroon, Morocco and Mali are the other countries ahead of Nigeria in the rankings.
The top 10 countries in the world changed as 2014 World Cup runners-up, Argentina, climbed to the top. They ended Belgium’s five-month reign at the summit of the rankings. Belgium are now second while Chile, Colombia and Uruguay complete the top five.
All Credits: PUNCH
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