PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) - St Kitts and Nevis have displaced Barbados as the fifth-ranked team in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) after eliminating the Barbadians in World Cup qualifiers last month.
In July's FIFA World Rankings released yesterday, St Kitts and Nevis leapt 12 places to 108th in the world, while Barbados slipped to 116th on FIFA's list, and sixth in the CFU.And while Jamaica remained the CFU's top-ranked team, Trinidad & Tobago and Cuba climbed significantly up the rankings list following strong results in the CONCACAF Second Round World Cup qualifiers.
In the CONCACAF qualifiers last month, St Kitts & Nevis whipped Barbados, 3-0, in Barbados en route to a 5-2 aggregate triumph in the two-match series, and the result earned them the CFU's number five spot, occupied for several years by Barbados.
Jamaica, after eliminating Haiti, moved two places up to 49th in the world, while the CFU's number two T&T jumped 14 places up the world ratings to 63rd after they knocked out the Dominican Republic.
There was also a 14-place rise for Cuba on the strength of their regulation-time drawn results - 1-1 and 2-2 - against the world's 29th-ranked Costa Rica, and St Vincent and the Grenadines jumped 10 places up the world list and knocked Antigua and Barbuda out of the CFU's top-10.
SVG, who got past Nicaragua, 6-3, on aggregate in the CONCACAF qualifiers, moved up to 153rd in the world and 10th in the CFU, while Antigua and Barbuda dropped one spot to 163, and are now 12th in the regional ratings.
Mexico, FIFA's number six team, remain number one in CONCACAF, ahead of the USA (seventh) and Costa Rica, with Jamaica fourth, and Honduras (54th) fifth.
Five-time world champions Brazil stay number one ahead of France, followed by Spain, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands.
CFU top 10 rankings (world rankings in brackets)
1 Jamaica (49)
2 Trinidad & Tobago (63)
3 Cuba (66)
4 Haiti (91)
5 St Kitts/Nevis (108)
6 Barbados (116)
7 St Lucia (127)
8 Grenada (138)
9 Suriname (147)
10 St Vincent & the Grenadines (153)
