Brazil stayed top of the latest world rankings published yesterday by FIFA that determine the seeded European teams in playoffs to reach the World Cup.
European champions Spain closed the gap on the Confederations Cup winners, but remained second, followed by the Netherlands. World champions Italy broke a tie in last month’s rankings with Germany to stand alone as No. 4.
Argentina’s victories after late goals against Peru and Uruguay in the past week helped them climb two places to No. 6, ahead of England.
Croatia rose one place to No. 8 even though they were eliminated from the World Cup after trailing England and Ukraine in their group.
The seeded teams for the playoffs that will decide the final four European nations going to next year’s tournament in South Africa are France, Portugal, Russia and Greece.
France moved up a place to No. 9, Portugal climbed seven spots to No. 10, Russia dropped six places to No. 12, while Greece are ranked 16th.
They will be drawn against four non-seeded teams, led by No. 22 Ukraine, No. 34 Republic of Ireland, No. 42 Bosnia-Herzegovina and No. 49 Slovenia.
The playoff draw will be made on Monday at FIFA headquarters in Zurich. The home-and-away matches are scheduled for Nov. 15 and Nov. 18.
The US stayed at No. 11 as the best of the CONCACAF nations, while Mexico rose six places to No. 18. Both sealed their World Cup places this month.
Cameroon, who can clinch their place next month, heads the African nations at No. 14 after jumping 15 places. Ivory Coast, who have qualified, are next best at 19th.
The top 20 includes 13 World Cup-qualified teams, and five more who have a second chance in playoffs. Only Croatia and the No. 15 the Czech Republic are eliminated.
Denmark dropped 11 places to No. 27 despite winning their qualifying group this month.
Australia, who qualified in September, remained the best Asian confederation nation despite falling 10 places to No. 24.
New Zealand are the best Oceania nation and rose 17 places to No. 83. They are in a playoff with Bahrain to reach the World Cup finals.
World Cup hosts South Africa dropped 12 places to No. 85, while North Korea at No. 91 are currently the lowest-ranked qualifiers.
Tallon Griekspoor on Friday stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in the second round at Indian Wells, avenging a devastating loss to the German at Roland Garros last year. Zverev, the world No. 2 who is heading the field of the prestigious ATP Masters event with No. 1 Jannik Sinner serving a three-month drugs ban, is the first Indian Wells men’s top seed to lose his opening match since Andy Murray in 2017. It was a cherished win for Griekspoor, who had lost five straight matches — including four last year — to the German. That included a five-setter
Donovan Mitchell on Wednesday scored 26 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers punched their ticket to the NBA playoffs with a hard-fought 112-107 victory over the Miami Heat. A seesaw battle in Cleveland saw the Heat threaten to end the Cavs’ 11-game unbeaten streak after opening up a seven-point lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Cavs clawed back the deficit in the closing minutes to seal their 12th straight victory and a place in the post-season. The Cavaliers improved to 52-10, maintaining their stranglehold on the Eastern Conference with 20 games of the regular season remaining. Mitchell was one of six Cleveland
VALUABLE POINT: Relegation-threatened Valencia snatched a thrilling 3-3 draw at CA Osasuna thanks to a remarkable backheel volley by Umar Sadiq Barcelona on Sunday secured a comfortable 4-0 win over Real Sociedad to move back top of La Liga. Aritz Elustondo’s early red card gave Hansi Flick’s side a comfortable afternoon, with Gerard Martin, Marc Casado, Ronald Araujo and Robert Lewandowski on the score sheet. Atletico Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao on Saturday to temporarily knock the Catalans from their perch, while Real Madrid, third, lost at Real Betis Balompie. Flick was able to rotate his side a little ahead of the UEFA Champions League round-of-16 visit to face SL Benfica tomorrow and still move one point above Atletico. “There were a lot of things that
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
RSS