Passing the 50 mark in cricket is seen as a noteworthy landmark. Reaching the 50 mark in the Fifa world rankings for Bafana Bafana on Wednesday was nothing short of entering an abyss — with South Africa’s national soccer team plummeting to their lowest ranking in 11 years.
And rubbing salt into the wounds of coach Ted Dumitru’s ill-fated African Nations Cup debacle was the dramatic upsurge of African nations generally in the rankings — with Nigeria leading the way in 12th position after improving 12 places and new continental champions Egypt perched in 17th position after improving 15 places.
Cameroon have jumped seven places to 16th, Tunisia are up five places to 23rd and Senegal have improved their ranking from 30th to 29th — with African Nations Cup runners-up Côte d’Ivoire elevated to 32nd after a 10-position improvement and Ghana up two places to 48th.
Bafana’s slump after losing all three Nations Cup games in Egypt without scoring a goal emphasises the current morass in South African soccer, with President Thabo Mbeki among those who have voiced concern in view of the hosting of the World Cup in 2010.
South Africa’s plight is further emphasised by a declining African ranking of nine behind Nigeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Tunisia, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco and Ghana.
The world rankings are headed by perennial top dogs Brazil, who are followed among the top 10 by the Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Argentina, France, Spain, Mexico, the United States, England and Portugal.
South Africa reached their highest ranking of 16th in August, 1996 shortly after annexing the African Nations Cup title at home — with a steady decline ever since. — Sapa