US and Mexico drop in FIFA's Nov. Rankings

There was only minor movement in the top 20 this month. Both Spain and Iran moved up two spots. Spain's move caused both Mexico and the US to drop a space. The US now stands as the 8th best team in the rankings, which is still one better then England. Costa Rica fell out of the top 20, but not by much as they now rest at 21st.

If FIFA uses the same seeding formula they used during the last two World Cups, these are the rankings they will use for this year.

Pos - Team - Pts - (Oct Rank)
1 Brazil 841 (1)
2 Czech Republic 796 (3)
3 Netherlands 791 (2)
4 Argentina 774 (4)
5 France 772 (5)
6 Spain 771 (8)
7 Mexico 768 (6)
8 USA 766 (7)
9 England 757 (9)
10 Portugal 754 (9)

11 Turkey 749 (11)
12 Italy 741 (12)
13 Denmark 732 (14)
14 Sweden 731 (13)
15 Japan 713 (16)
16 Germany 710 (15)
17 Greece 708 (18)
18 Uruguay 706 (17)
19 Iran 702 (21)
20 Croatia 701 (19)

The biggest move on the overall FIFA list was Belarus who moved up 11 spots to 59th. Chile moved up 9 to 63rd. Both Bulgaria (39) and Ivory Coast (41) moved up 7.

The biggest loser was St. Lucia who fell 8 places to 125. World Cup bound Togo also saw a big drop by sinking seven spaces down to 56th. Iraq also fell 7 to 74th.

So how do World Cup teams stack up?

Angola (62), Cote d'Ivoire (41), Togo (56), Ghana (50), Tunisia (28)

Japan (15), Iran (19), Korea Republic (29), Saudi Arabia (32)

Germany (16), Ukraine (40), Netherlands (3), Poland (23), England (9), Croatia (20), Italy (12), Portugal (10), Sweden (14), Serbia and Montenegro (47), France (5), Switzerland (36), Spain (6), Czech Republic (2)

USA (8), Mexico (7), Costa Rica (21), Trinidad and Tobago (51)

Australia (49)

Argentina (4), Brazil (1), Ecuador (37), Paraguay (30)

The highest ranked team to not make the Cup is Turkey in 11th place. The lowest ranked team to make the Cup is Angola at 62nd.