TT slide to 58th in football world

ZURICH: Cuba moved ahead of Trinidad and Tobago again on FIFA’s Coca Cola world rankings list to be number two to Jamaica in the region.

In the September ratings released yesterday, Cuba climbed one place to 57th in the world, while Trinidad and Tobago slipped four places from their August position to 58th after a 2-0 loss to Morocco earlier this month. Jamaica, rated 46th in the world and fifth in CONCACAF, remain No 1 in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). Trinidad and Tobago, the eight-time Caribbean Cup champions, had led the CFU rankings for over three years from February 2000, but were overtaken by Jamaica in the April rankings. They remained the CFU’s second  team until July when Cuba surpassed them, but recovered the spot last month. There is no other positional change in the CFU’s top-10 with Haiti, 82nd in the world, remaining fourth, ahead of Barbados (95th).

The St Lucians stay sixth at 122nd in the world, followed by St Kitts/Nevis (125th), Grenada (145th) and Suriname (153rd), with St Vincent 10th in CFU and 155th in the world. CONCACAF giants Mexico dropped one place from fourth to fifth in the world, and the other top teams in the confederation — comprising North, Central America and the Caribbean — are the United States at 11th, Costa Rica (19th) and Honduras (41st), followed by Jamaica. Current world champions Brazil remain a clear number one ahead of France and Spain, with Argentina moving up to fourth, followed by Mexico, England, the Netherlands, and Turkey, with the Czech Republic and Germany tied at ninth.