Reggae Boyz stay No 1 in CFU

Digicel Caribbean Cup champions Jamaica retained the number one position in the regional seedings ahead of World Cup qualifiers Trinidad and Tobago, while Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) capitalised on slips by St Lucia and St Kitts and Nevis to improve their positions in the top-10.

St Lucia slid eight spots down FIFA’s list to 125th and lost the CFU’s number five spot to Barbados who remained steady at 119th.

And St Kitts and Nevis dipped to 128th, down— four places— from last month’s position of 124th, allowing SVG to snatch seventh spot in the CFU after moving up one place on the world list, to 126th.

St Kitts and Nevis are now eighth and the CFU’s top 10 is completed by ninth-ranked Grenada, 150th in the world, and Suriname, 10th in CFU and 151st in FIFA.

Cuba, ranked 75th in the world, stay third in the CFU ahead of Haiti, who are 91st on FIFA’s list.

In one other CFU shift, Guyana, who were the world’s biggest movers last month, leaping 14 places up to 168th on FIFA’s list, took another step upward to 167th and displaced Dominica as the 15th ranked nation in the CFU.

Mexico and the USA, the leading teams in CONCACAF, the Confederation for North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, continued to hold positions in the world’s top-10.

The Mexicans are currently seventh in the world and the USA eighth.

Third in CONCACAF behind Mexico and the USA are Costa Rica at 21st in the world, while Honduras (41st) are fourth, and Jamaica fifth with a world rating of 43rd.

The TT Soca Warriors, who achieved their first ever qualification for a World Cup Finals when they beat Bahrain 2-1 on aggregate in a play-off last Wednesday, are sixth in CONCACAF after climbing two places up the world list to 51st.

Brazil topped the rankings for the 40th straight month, with the Czech Republic lying second, followed by the Netherlands and Argentina, with 1998 World Cup champions France in fifth place.

CFU Rankings — November (world rating in bracket): 1 Jamaica (43); 2 Trinidad and Tobago (51); 3 Cuba (75); 4 Haiti (91); 5 Barbados (119); 6 St Lucia (125); 7 St Vincent and the Grenadines (126); 8 St. Kitts and Nevis (128); 9 Grenada (150); 10 Suriname (151); 11 Antigua and Barbuda (155); 12 Bermuda (158); 13 British Virgin Islands (163); 14 Netherlands Antilles (166); 15 Guyana (167); 16 Dominica (169); 17 Dominican Republic (173); 18 Cayman Islands (176); 19 Bahamas (192); 20 Puerto Rico (193); 21 US Virgin Islands (195); 22 Anguilla (197); 23 Aruba (200); 24 Montserrat (202); 25 Turks and Caicos Islands (203).