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| Scorpions of Gambia |
Gambia
has found itself fixed at one place in the latest world and regional rankings, following
the national soccer team’s disastrous performance in their last competitive
match.
Gambia
remains stuck at 113th place in the world and 30th place
in Africa according to the latest FIFA ranking. The same positions held by the
country in last month’s football rating.
The
May 9, 2012 ratings saw Gambia maintaining the same score, 292 points, based on
the poor or inactivity of the national team, the Scorpions, is enough to get
the whole country stuck in global and continental football.
The scorpions’ last kick of a ball was on February
29, 2012 when Algeria took advantage of their dismal performance to punish them
with a 2-1 win in their first leg preliminary round of the 2013 African Cup of
Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.
The defeat in front of nearly 30,000 home fans left
football authorities in the country mad, and with uncertainty, the executive
committee of the Gambia Football Association, GFA, led by Seedy Kinteh, were
all sent packing by the Government.
With football’s world governing body, FIFA,
threatening sanctions, the Government managed to negotiate their actions and
possibly saved the country from being banned and the loss of an annual
FIFA-subvention of USD$250, 000.
Meanwhile FIFA has announced that the next release
of its world ranking will come on June 6, in which there is no hope that Gambia
will move up better places provided that the inaction of the national team
persist.
The June ranking will come days before the Desert
Foxes host the Scorpions in Algiers, Algeria for the return leg of AFCON 2012
preliminary rounds. The team faces an
uphill task that demands an overturn of the results in the 1st leg
in Banjul, if the country is to move a step further in its drive to make a debut
in the continental championship.
However, before the Algeria game, the Gambia has an
opening 2014 world cup qualifying game sandwich in between.
Wednesday’s
rankings placed Spain, Germany,
Uruguay, Netherlands, Portugal, Brazil, England, Croatia, Argentina and Denmark
as the top 10 countries in world football. Meanwhile, the reigning world
champions, Spain, with 1,442 points, have retained their place as the top team
in the world followed by Germany in second place.
While
at the continental level, Africa’s top 10 teams are Ivory Coast, Ghana,
Algeria, Mali, Zambia, Gabon, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco. Africa’s top
side is Ivory Coast with 951 points, with the Elephants ranked 15th
in the world.
Mauritania
is the worst ranked side in Africa at 53rd with only four points.
Written by Modou S. Joof
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