OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday 12.45pm.
SOUTH Africa retain their place in the top 10 African Football Nations, but Morocco are the kings of the African game, ending the year where they began it – on top of the African rankings compiled by FIFA.
Morocco were unbeaten against African opposition during 1999 under French coach Henri Michel and achieved a notable 2-1 friendly triumph away to Euro 2000 co-hosts Holland.
Michel has built his team around Europe-based players, including defensive kingpin Noureddine Naybet, midfielders Youssef Chippo and Mustapha Hadji and striker Salaheddine Bassir.
The Atlas Lions face co-hosts Nigeria, Tunisia and Congo in the “Group of Death” at the African Nations Cup finals next month as they seek to translate statistical superiority into silverware.
Tunisia, Zambia, Egypt, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo also started and finished the year among the top 10 African football nations.
Angola were the only newcomers, rising from 11th position to seventh thanks to a successful Castle Cup Southern Africa championship campaign that ended in a 2-1 aggregate victory over Namibia.
While the Black Panthers climbed, the Nigerian Super Eagles fell, slipping five places to 15th because of minimal activity and some disappointing friendly scorelines.
Minnows Libya were voted the Best Movers by FIFA as they rose 10 places to 31st, a feat matched by surprise Castle Cup semi-finalists Swaziland. Burkina Faso and Rwanda rose seven places.
The Central African Republic and Mauritius jumped six positions and 2000 African Nations Cup qualifiers Congo Brazzaville and Senegal climbed five places.
Guinea suffered the sharpest slump, dropping eight notches to 20th, followed by other West African countries Togo, who dropped seven and Niger, who fell six spots. — AFP