Ensconced in a Pretoria hotel where they are preparing for Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier of diminished importance against Equatorial Guinea, the Bafana players were greeted with the disconcerting news on Wednesday that the team had plummeted to 85th in the Fifa world rankings.
It is the worst ranking achieved by South Africa in 14 years and emphasises the dilemma facing the South African Football Association as they attempt to construct a combination that can perform with a measure of respectability while hosting next year’s Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup.
Heightening the plunge in the world rankings from a previous 70th place is the fact that Bafana have dropped five positions in the African rankings, and now occupy a lowly 20th place on the continent.
And South Africa are now the seventh-best ranked among the eight teams participating in the Confederations Cup, with only New Zealand in an inferior position behind Spain (first in the world), Italy (second), Brazil (fourth), United States (21st), Egypt (22nd), Iraq (77th) and South Africa (85th).
A benevolent Fifa, however, have elected to award Bafana a seeding for the Confederations Cup by virtue of South Africa’s status as the host nation.
And, what is more, both Bafana and Equatorial Guinea are already out of the running to qualify for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Angola and their game on Saturday is simply to avoid the ignominy of finishing last in the qualifying group. — Sapa