Mexico and Brazil reap Gold Cup rewards

There were no changes to report among the leading nations in the latest FIFA World Ranking, issued yesterday.

After an early exit from the FIFA Confederations Cup, Brazil have made up lost ground with their performance in the Gold Cup, re-affirming their lead ahead of France.

Whereas speculation at one point suggested that the FIFA Confederations Cup winners may have managed to knock the South Americans off pole position, Brazil are still leading the Europeans by more than 20 points. Spain hold on to third place.

There was more bad news for the Malta national team though.

The July rankings show another loss of two positions in the FIFA ladder. Malta is now 132nd - the worst for several months and ten places below the position the national team held at the beginning of the year.

As we lag behind Gabon (121), Lesotho (122), St Kitts and Nevis (124), new UEFA members Kazakhstan (129) and Mozambique (130), the other European nations behind Malta in the rankings - Andorra (142), Liechtenstein (147), Luxembourg (153) and San Marino (163) - also showed no improvement on their previous positions.

Malta's next match is a friendly international at Luxembourg on August 19.

This month's most impressive leap was made by Gold Cup winners Mexico (5th, up 6), returning to the Top Five for the first time in over five years (since May 1998).

Further down the upper echelons of the ranking, ripples can be felt from Confederations Cup runners-up Cameroon who have recorded their best ever result in the table.

Uruguay (26th, up 5) and Zimbabwe (50th, up 11) have made considerable progress too, with Zimbabwe reaching the Top 50 for the first time since April 1997.

Australia (63rd, down 13) have slipped from 50th place, and with no Oceanian team now represented in the Top 50, the regional composition of the ranking has altered in favour of the African Confederation (8 teams, up one). The remaining four confederations remain unaltered (UEFA: 27 teams; CONMEBOL: 6; CONCACAF: 5; AFC: 4).