By AAP
November 21st 2009 @ 2:13am
Socceroos move up in FIFA world rankings
The Socceroos have improved three places to No.21 in the latest world rankings released by governing body FIFA on Friday.
Australia’s 2-1 away victory over Oman in their Asian Cup qualifying match last weekend has helped them inch closer to another spot back in the world’s top 20.
Pim Verbeek’s men had reached the lofty heights of No.14 in the rankings in September, having locked up a second straight World Cup appearance, before slipping back down the list.
New Zealand have also improved their standing, rising six places to No.77 following their qualification for South Africa, which will be just their second ever World Cup appearance.
European champions Spain have replaced Brazil at the top of the list, with the Netherlands third ahead of world champions Italy, Portugal and Germany.
The Portuguese, who were ranked below Australia in recent months, have been the biggest movers in the top 10.
France, who have been under-fire ever since Thierry Henry’s handball allowed them to qualify for the World Cup ahead of Ireland, have risen two places to No.7, followed by Argentina, England and Croatia.
Ireland have dropped two spots to No.36.
Two other teams that have reached South Africa enjoyed a big rankings boost, with Nigeria improving 10 places to No.22 and Slovenia rising 16 places to No.33.
Latest FIFA world rankings:
1. Spain (+1 place)
2. Brazil (-1)
3. Netherlands
4. Italy
5. Portugal (+5)
6. Germany (-1)
7. France (+2)
8. Argentina (-2)
9. England (-2)
10. Croatia (-2)
Also:
21. Australia (+2)
77. New Zealand (+6)
Like this content? Buzz it up!
Free Email updates:
Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport or that author. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it. We value privacy. More...

(6)
![A bright vision for the future or a nightmare wanting to be avoided at all costs? That is the question over the “Double Try” innovation which awaits rugby league at the inaugural NRL and Indigenous All-Stars match on the Gold Coast in February.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that someone has either been watching way too [...] Steve Kaless: A double try or just double trouble?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/its-storm-eels-jeff-lima-th.jpg)
![We’ve all heard about the radical knee surgery performed on Port Adelaide midfielder David Rodan’s injured cruciate ligament. But to get a more informed look on the topic, I thought I’d get in touch with Port Adelaide club doctor Mark Fisher.
Fisher was present for Rodan’s Ligament Augmentation and Reconstruction System (LARS) procedure which took place [...] Ben Somerford: Inside word on David Rodan’s radical knee surgery](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/david-rodan-international-rules-th.jpg)
![Luca Badoer has become the laughing stock of Formula 1, through no fault of his own. Languishing at the bottom of the timesheets having replaced the injured Felipe Massa, what more were we to expect from a driver who has been out of racing for a decade?
The fault is with Ferrari and their haphazard decision [...] Adrian Musolino: Ferrari pays the price for their arrogance](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/ferrari-pays-price-th.jpg)
![Football is increasingly becoming more and more defensive. The distance between lines has been shortened, space is becoming more and more squeezed, and 4-2-4 has become 4-5-1.
At the 1954 World Cup, an average of 5.38 goals were scored per match. Fifty-two years later at Germany 2006, that had dropped to 2.31.
The financial imbalance [...] Davidde Corran: Football isn’t a red card game](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/rename-epl-gpl-patrice-evra-th.jpg)
![There are are two ways to punctuate the question: how good were the expert picks for the Melbourne Cup!? The exclamation punctuation suggests that the experts were spot on. But the question mark punctuation, which goes with this Roar, suggests that they were mug punters (like you and me) rather than gurus of the turf.
I [...] Spiro Zavos: How Shocking that the experts got it so wrong](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/how-shocking-melbourne-cup-th.jpg)
![It was revealed earlier this week Socceroo Luke Wilkshire had become one of Australian football’s top earners after signing a multi-million dollar deal with his Russian outfit Dinamo Moscow. He’s come a long way in a short space of time.
At 28 years of age, Wilkshire’s latest deal was the most important of his career. The [...] Ben Somerford: Wilkshire signing shows the power of association](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/socceroos-kuwait-wilkshire-th.jpg)
![There’s no two ways about this. This is a column I never would have dreamt writing not all that long ago. I’m sure I’m not the first person to admit that I’ve never been a big fan of Nathan Hauritz as a spin-bowling option.
Just as I maintain about Cameron White now, I also used to [...] Brett McKay: Hard to believe, but Hauritz is winning me over](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/australias-spin-future-hauritz-th.jpg)
![Mick Malthouse managed to take his young Magpies side further than many expected in 2009. Indeed, Collingwood over-achieved this year. But in the end they lacked the quality required to go further. So you wonder, can Collingwood do any better in 2010?
The finals defeats to St Kilda and Geelong and the Round 22 loss to [...] Ben Somerford: Can Collingwood go one step further in 2010?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/st-kilda-geelong-audience-th.jpg)
![The other day I was handed an advance copy of a book to go on sale today. In it was one of those wonderful little Kevin-Baconesque degrees of rugby separation that make reading worthwhile.
On July 25, 1981, a group of anti-apartheid protestors were baton charged and mercilessly beaten in Wellington’s Molesworth St as they protested [...] Andrew Logan: Firepower: the most spectacular fraud in Australian history](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/western-force-firepower-fraud-th.jpg)
![I’ve been inspired by a brilliant performance by the Wests Tigers on the weekend. Specifically, I have been inspired by a player who, under the common law of sporting cliché, must always be described by the news media as “mercurial” (and duly was, by the Sydney Morning Herald on the front page of Monday’s sports [...] Andrew Jones: Top five sportsmen that must always be described as ‘mercurial’](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/top-five-sportsmen-david-campese-th.jpg)
![It’s becoming almost ridiculous now. Refresh your page on any football news site on the net and another Australian player is heading off to north Asia. Sasho Petrovski, Mark Bridge and even that great flop John Aloisi are all rumoured to be mulling over offers to go to the Chinese Super League.
Before you know [...] Jesse Fink: The A-League’s bleeding of players must stop](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/a-league-th2.jpg)
![Melbourne’s dominance of the Australian sporting landscape was almost complete in 2009. Victorian clubs claimed the AFL, NRL, A-League, Sheffield Shield, Netball ANZ championship, and NBL premierships.
It is an impressive feat, and one that seems to have been overlooked by pundits and fans alike. But how do we account for it?
Melbourne is undoubtedly [...] Adrian Musolino: Why do Melbourne teams dominate Aussie sports?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/why-do-melbourne-teams-storm-th.jpg)




Mr cheese said | November 21st 2009 @ 5:18am | Report comment
It’s difficult to take the rankings totally seriously, because the USA went into the 2006 World Cup in the top 5 in the world. They were rubbish in that tournament, as most people expected them to be.
It will be interesting to see if ( when ? ) the Aussies make it into the top 10.
Then, you will know that you have arrived.
Jeb said | November 21st 2009 @ 5:33pm | Report comment
Mr Cheese – you say It’s difficult to take the rankings seriously but then use them as the barometre for when we’ll know we’ve arrived… I’d agree with your first sentiment.
Mr cheese said | November 22nd 2009 @ 9:36am | Report comment
There is some truth in the ratings, Jebediah. I don’t reckon you could say that they’re a total waste of time. England should be number one, though. Who has forgotten 1966 ????
A los osados ayuda la fortuna !!!!!!!!
Joe FC said | November 21st 2009 @ 1:29pm | Report comment
-”It will be interesting to see if ( when ? ) the Aussies make it into the top 10.
Then, you will know that you have arrived”…not wrong there Mr cheese.
vas said | November 21st 2009 @ 5:29pm | Report comment
Mr Cheese, how is Australia being top 10 any more dubious than the USA being top 5?
How many meaningful tournaments have Australia won compared to the Americans?
As you rightly point out, the rankings are a joke. It’s nice for the also-rans like the USA and Australia, because it is the only marker by which they can improve. But I doubt Spain cares too much about being Number 1. They’d probably prefer winning the World Cup and being out of the top 10.
Mr cheese said | November 22nd 2009 @ 9:35am | Report comment
I don’t know that either the yanks or the convicts have won any big tournaments.
Neither of them has won either the Euros or the World Cup or est-ce que je me trompe ????
They probably won’t win the Euros in my lifetime. Neither will Japan.