Super Eagles move up one spot in FIFA rankings

A low quality make-shift friendly match with West African neighbours, Sierra-Leone counted for so little as the Super Eagles moved just a step up in the latest rankings released yesterday by world football governing body, FIFA.

The Super Eagles now occupy the 39th spot in the world rankings.
Though the Eagles won the friendly against the Leone Stars 2-1, they still remain the fourth best team in the African continent behind the likes of Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Egypt.
Ghana dropped one spot to become 16th in the world, but are still the highest ranked African team with Cote D' Ivoire as Africa's second best team; 25th in the world. Current African champions, Egypt are rated third in Africa while occupying the 35th spot in the world.
Minor changes
According to FIFA, a total of 55 friendly matches were taken into account for the March edition of the world rankings.
Not many changes were recorded as world champions, Spain still leads the overall standing followed by the Netherlands in second and Germany in third position.
Spain has been the top-ranked team in the world since winning the World Cup last July when it knocked Brazil from the top spot.
Even worse for the Brazilians is the fact that they have now been overtaken by fierce rivals Argentina, who now occupy fourth spot in the world rankings ahead of the five-time former world champions.
England, Uruguay, Croatia, Portugal and Greece complete the list of the top ten teams in the world.
Task ahead
Meanwhile, the Super Eagles stand a chance of making an upward movement on next month's rankings, which will be released by the world body on April 13, as they have a competitive match ahead of them later this month.
The team will take on Ethiopia in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match at the Abuja National Stadium on Sunday March 27 with the knowledge that anything other than a victory over the East Africans will end Nigeria's dream of qualifying for the tournament to be co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
With just four round of matches to go until the end of the qualifiers, the Super Eagles need a convincing victory over the Ethiopians to put back their Nations Cup participation aspirations back on the track as they currently trail Guinea on the log by three points.
Naming the squad
Only the top placed teams from each of the qualifying groups are guaranteed a ticket to the biannual African championship. But Super Eagles coach, Samson Siasia has already promised to crush the Ethiopians who are currently ranked 124th in the world and 33rd in Africa.
The list of players to be invited for the must win match will be announced today by Siasia at a press conference in Abuja.
Already there are speculations over those that may likely make the team list with the likes of Obafemi Martins, Victor Anichebe and defender, Efe Ambrose expected to make a surprise return to the Super Eagles team.
The FIFA world rankings are determined by points awarded from match results in a three-year period, with more recent games given greater weight while teams get additional points for playing relatively strong opponents.

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