Super Eagles
The Super Eagles will be the fifth seeded team in pot 1 for the play-off matches to decide the five countries that will represent Africa at Brazil 2014. The status of Nigeria is to be based on the projections for the World Monthly rankings to be released today by the international governing body, FIFA.
Nigeria’s position will not be affected in spite of the progression of Cape Verde which will be rated the fourth seeded nation at the expense of the Super Eagles.
World rankings will be applied to decide which Africa’s top five seeded teams will be in pot 1 at the draw to be held on September 16 in Cairo ahead of the play offs leading to qualification of the five nations that will represent the continent at Brazil 2014.
The nations will qualify from two-legged ties to be played in October and November.
From the expected projections, FIFA will in this particular order list Ivory Coast, Ghana, Algeria, Cape Verde and Nigeria as Africa’s top five nations.
The other nations in pot 2 and in their latest ranking order are likely going to be Egypt, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Senegal and Ethiopia.
Mali, which until last month was Africa’s third rated nation, will drop to sixth position, following its recent patchy run and failure to reach the final phase of the 2014 World Cup qualification.
Nigeria’s emphasis on result paid off with a 100 percent victory in the last three international matches over South Africa, Malawi and Burkina Faso.
The projected ranking points for the African champions will be 707 points, a slight improvement on the 700 points they tallied in the last ranking in August.
The Super Eagles will also profit in the world ranking as they are projected to occupy between 32-34 spot in the table for this month, while they will retain their position as the No 5 rated team in Africa.
Cape Verde, which surprised pundits at the Africa Cup of Nations where they got to the quarter final, are now on the verge of a maiden appearance at the FIFA World Cup.
The Blue Sharks achieved their all-time highest ranking index in Africa, following their victory over Tunisia in Rades in the last Group B fixture last week.
But earlier, the West Africans had profited from the docking of six points from Equatorial Guinea by FIFA for fielding of an ineligible players in earlier group matches.
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