SPAIN STILL NUMBER ONE IN LATEST FIFA RANKINGS

2010 FIFA World Cup champions Spain and runner-ups, the Netherlands, continue to lord it over at number one and two spots, respectively, in the latest rankings released last July 27. Like the two World Cup finalists, Germany is still ranked third while South America powerhouse Brazil moved a notch higher from their previous slot of fifth to rank fourth over-all. From 18th place, Uruguay jumped to fifth place. Rounding up the top ten with their previous ranking in parenthesis are: England (4), Portugal (7), 2006 World Cup winners Italy (6), Croatia (8) and two-time World Cup titlist Argentina (10). The only Asian countries in the top 50 are the co-hosts of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Japan, which dropped from 13th to 16th place and South Korea, which plummeted from 26th to 28 ranked. The Philippine Azkals dropped further to 162 (159). In the top 50 countries, the biggest climbers were Peru, from 49th to 25th place and Venezuela from 69th to 40th spot. With the ongoing World Cup qualifiers, expect more dramatic changes in the world rankings next month.