T&T still CFU's number one
Express
Thursday, May 8th 2008
Trinidad and Tobago's Soca Warriors have retained the No.1 ranking in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) for the month of May.
With a world ranking of 88th, T&T kept the region's top spot ahead of Jamaica, with Cuba at No.3 in the list collated from FIFA's latest Coca Cola World Rankings released yesterday.
Eight-time Caribbean Cup champions T&T are enjoying a third consecutive month as the CFU's No.1 team after returning there - for the first time in six months - in March.
Jamaica's Reggae Boyz retained second spot but slipped two places on FIFA's list to 105th, their lowest ever ranking since the FIFA ratings were introduced in August 1993.
The CFU's 2007 Team of the Year Haiti lost the No.3 position in the region after dropping seven places on FIFA's world list to 113th.
Cuba, 109th in the world, moved up No.3 in the CFU and Guyana (110th) also jumped one place to fourth in the region.
The bottom half of the Top-10 is exactly as it was a month ago, with Barbados, 117th in the world at No.6, followed by Antigua & Barbuda (127th), Bermuda (139th), Grenada (143rd) and Suriname (144th) in 10th spot.
Former Caribbean Cup runners-up St Vincent & the Grenadines are just outside the CFU's Top-10 at 11th with a FIFA rating of 145th.
Movement generally in the CFU was very marginal this month and there were no positional changes outside the Top-10 in the region.
Mexico and the USA continued to rule the ratings for CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football.
Ranked 17th in the world, the Mexicans stay No.1 in CONCACAF ahead of the USA, who are 21st.
Honduras are third in the confederation at No.36 on the FIFA list.
Canada (62nd) and Panama (67th) are fourth and fifth respectively in CONCACAF, with Costa Rica (77th), Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala (91st), Jamaica and Cuba completing CONCACAF's Top-10.
CFU Rankings - May 2008
(world ranking in brackets)
1 Trinidad & Tobago (89)
2 Jamaica (103)
3 Haiti (106)
4 Cuba (110)
5 Guyana (111)
6 Barbados (116)
7 Antigua & Barbuda (127)
8 Bermuda (139)
9 Grenada (142)
10 Suriname (143)
11 St Vincent & the Grenadines (144)
12 Puerto Rico (149)
13 Netherlands Antilles (150)
14 St Kitts & Nevis (155)
15 Turks & Caicos Islands (165)
15 Bahamas (165)
17 St Lucia (168)
18 British Virgin Islands (173)
19 Dominican Republic (178)
20 Cayman Islands (185)
21 Dominica (191)
22 US Virgin Islands (192)
23 Anguilla (202)
23 Montserrat (202)
23 Aruba (202)
Reggae Boyz hit all-time low in world rankings
Gleaner
published: Thursday | May 8, 2008
JAMAICA'S REGGAE Boyz have slipped two spots to 105th, hitting an all-time low in the latest FIFA world rankings.
Jamaica, who were ranked as high as 27 in August 1998, began the year ranked at 98 before jumping a few places to 90 in February.
However, since that time the team has slowly tumbled down the global football charts. Ranked 103 last month a patch of inactivity for the team which saw the cancellation of two friendly internationals may be the likely culprit for the recent drop. Jamaica will not play another friendly international until they tackle Barbados on the third of next month.
Sore point
International rankings have been a sore point for the country in recent times with the national team falling below 70th place on average in the official rankings over the past two years; thus, Jamaican internationals wishing to ply their trade in the United Kingdom will not be issued with work permits.
Soca warriors move up
In the regional rankings, Jamaica remain second behind Trinidad and Tobago's Soca Warriors who moved up one spot to 88. Cuba are third with their ranking at 109, Guyana are fourth at 110 and Caribbean champions Haiti are fifth at 113.
Mexico remain the number one ranked team in CONCACAF, weighing in at 17 in the world. The United States are next at 21, while Honduras (36th), Canada (62nd) and Panama (67th) round out the top five.
Jamaica's World Cup qualifi-cation campaign will officially kick off when they face The Bahamas, ranked at 164, at the National Stadium on June 16.
The second leg of that tie will be held at the Trelawny Stadium three days later.