The Maravi Post

MZUZU--Surprise, surprise! The world football governing body is never short of intrigue when ranking teams according to their strengths and weaknesses every month. This month they had a sweet surprise for Malawians!

Just when most football pundits and followers thought the Flames were in for an embarrassing drop in ranking due to inactivity in view of the just ended 1212 Orange Africa Cup of Nations finals in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon for which they failed to qualify, to the contrary they moved one step up from position 99 to 98 in the latest Fifa rankings.

The same way, the Flames have leapt one step from 22 to 21 in Africa and are now ranked fourth in the Cosafa region, according to Fifa rankings released on Thursday on its official website.

But as expected, the newly crowned Africa Cup of Nations champions Zambia’s Chipolopolo shot their way up 28 times from 71 to an enviable 43 spot in the world.

Zambia deserved the giant leap from the doldrums to the elite top-50 bracket for the first time since 2001 after going all the way to finally shock Africa’s number football team and Afcon favourites Ivory Coast 8-7 on post-match penalties.

Despite the defeat to hitherto underdogs Zambia, the Elephants remain the number one team in Africa and 15 in the world, while Ghana (and not Mali) and Algeria are second and third in that order on the African continent.

The Copper Bullets, as the Zambians are also called, have now nudged South Africa into second position, 10th in Africa and 58th in the world.

Spain remains the world’s top side with Germany now rated second relegating Holland into third place.

The results of 51 international matches have been taken into account in compiling the current edition of the Fifa/Coca-Cola ranking, of which 32 took place as part of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations and 19 were friendlies.

During the month under review, the Flames remained cool, not kicking a ball in either competitive or friendly encounter to warrant their gaining one step up on the Fifa rankings. But that’s exactly what makes rankings intriguing!

The next world ranking will be issued on March 7, according to the Fifa.
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