Africa-Press – Tanzania. TAIFA Stars have climbed up six positions in the latest FIFA World rankings released by the Federation of International Football Association yesterday.
The big leap has been attributed to Taifa Stars victory over Malawi Flames in the international friendly match staged at the Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium in Tanzania.
Stars under Danish Tactician Kim Poulsen emerged with a 2-0 victory against the Flames in June with its goals netted by Feisal Salum and John Bocco.
As such; Tanzania’s Taifa Stars have moved up by six places in the latest FIFA World Ranking and now they occupy 135th slot in the global rankings having accrued 1094 points.
Defeating Malawi who were positioned 115th in the May rankings, seemed to be very rewarding to Tanzania in the global standings and from the same results, Malawi went down three positions to settle in 118 position.
Stars who are settled 39th in the continent, played only against the Flames since May this year as they head to face Congo DR and Madagascar next month in the World Cup Qualifiers-Africa (WQA).
Both countries are ranked higher than Tanzania with Congo DR settling at the 65th spot in the global rankings after going down four positions whereas Madagascar are positioned 97th .
Elsewhere, Senegal are ranked the first in Africa at the 21st in the world rankings having collected 1545 points, while Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles – who dropped two points – are now 28th globally and second in Africa after accruing 1515 points.
It has been a busy few weeks for the world of football. With UEFA EURO 2020, the 2020 Copa America, the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup, qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and continental tournaments, as well as friendly matches all on the slate, no fewer than 348 international encounters have taken place since the last edition of the global ranking was released.
Therefore, there has been a considerable amount of movement in the standings, although Belgium managed to retain their top spot despite being eliminated in the quarter-finals of the European Championship.
Their last-eight opponents and eventual winners of the tournament, Italy, (5, +2), moved up into the top 5, just behind EURO runners-up England (4, no change). Just above that pair, Brazil (2, +1) and France (3, -1) swapped places.
Argentina (6, +2) reaped the benefits of a triumphant Copa America campaign, while the two Gold Cup finalists broke into the top 10. Victorious in that tournament and winners of the CONCACAF Nations League as well, United States (10, +10) climbed no fewer than ten places, eight more than Mexico (9, +2), who, despite losing in the final of both competitions, now sit one spot above their continental rivals.
In addition, it is worth noting the impressive progress made by Gold Cup invitees Qatar (42, +16), who reached the semi-finals in the USA, thereby recording the largest climb of the month and equaling their highest-ever position in the ranking, which dates back to the first edition in 1993.
A handful of other teams that did not take part in regional tournaments, such as Sierra Leone (106, +8), Eswatini (146, +8), Puerto Rico (171, +7) and Mongolia (185, +7), still managed to gain ground courtesy of positive friendly results.
The next Fifa/Coca-Cola Men’s World Rankings will be published on 16 September 2021.
