THE Warriors plunged five places further down the ladder in the latest Fifa/Coca-Cola World rankings yesterday. TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
According to the rankings, the Warriors are now ranked number 106 in the world and 28 in Africa. In the last rankings they were on number 101 in the world and slumped to number 27 in Africa.
Their highest ever Fifa ranking was number 40 achieved in April 1995, when the coach was German Reinhard Fabisch, with their lowest ranking being 131 in October 2009 when Sunday Chidzambwa was in charge.
The Warriors appear to be paying the price for their non participation in the African Cup of Nations qualifiers and their 2-1 defeat to Morocco in an international friendly early this month did not help matters.
Zimbabwe, under Ian Gorowa, crashed out of the continental soccer showcase after a disappointing 2-2 home draw against minnows Tanzania in the first round, second leg of the qualifiers at the National Sports Stadium in June.
They had been edged 1-0 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, thus they bombed out 3-2 on aggregate.
The Warriors will now have to wait for the next two years to participate in the African Cup of Nations qualifiers.
A total of 150 new ‘A’ international matches have been taken into account for the November edition of the Fifa/Coca-Cola World Ranking, bringing the total number of matches evaluated in 2014 to 817.
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Sixty-one of these matches were part of continental qualifiers in Europe, Africa and the ConcaCaf region, with the other 89 being friendly matches.
Algeria maintained their number one position in Africa but are 18 in the world while Tunisia moved nine places up to claim second position with Ivory Coast dropping to third position in Africa and 24 in the world.
Senegal moved six places up to sit on fourth position in Africa and 35 in the world.
Ghana are in fifth position and 37 in the world while Guinea moved a massive 17 places up to claim sixth position in Africa and 38 in the world. Cape Verde, Cameroon, Nigeria and Mali complete respectively complete the top ten ranked African teams.
The November edition of the Fifa/Coca-Cola World Ranking reveals very little change in the top ten, with the top seven positions unaltered from last month and world champions Germany still out in front ahead of Argentina and Colombia.
France, however, are now in joint seventh place together with Portugal (7th up two places).
In the top 20, England (13th, up 7), Romania (15th, up 6) and Czech Republic (17th, up 5) have all made good progress.
Guinea (38th, up 17) have climbed into the top 50 on the back of two victories in CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2015 qualifiers, as have Mali (49th, up 9), with their rise coming at the expense of Trinidad and Tobago (54th, down 5) and Egypt (60th, down 22). As a result, the regional composition of the top 50 has shifted slightly in favour of Africa (10 teams, up 1).
