Super Eagles Drop In FIFA Ranking Ahead Of World Cup
The two straight defeat that the Super Eagles of Nigeria suffered in pre-2018 FIFA World Cup friendly matches has left its mark on the latest FIFA world ranking.
The coach Gernot Rohr side dropped one place from 47th position to 48th in the world ranking, while in Africa, the World Cup-bound Nigerian team dropped from 6th place to 7th behind Tunisia, Senegal, Congo DR, Morocco, Egypt and Ghana.
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The latest ranking was released on Thursday on FIFA’s official website.
None of Nigeria’s group opponents at the Russia 2018 World Cup rose in the ranking, as Argentina are holding on to the 5th spot in the world, while Croatia who the Super Eagles will face in their opening 2018 World Cup game dropped two places from 18th to 20th.
Nigeria’s second group fixture and World Cup first timers Iceland remained 22nd.
The Nigerian team started their 2018 World Cup campaign with series of preparatory matches organised by its apex football body, Nigerian Football Federation NFF.
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Super Eagles played a narrow win against Poland on March 23 and five days later faced Serbia but lost 2-0 to the Europeans.
The Captain Mikel Obi led side hosted Congo DR in their third warm up match but pulled a draw against the Central African country.
The three-time African champions later faced England and Czech losing 2-1 and 1-0 respectively.
This latest FIFA ranking means Nigeria will be going to the World Cup as underdogs, as the competition kick starts in Eight days in Russia.
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 19 July 2018.
