Nyon, Switzerland (My Sportsbook) - The FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Rankings were released on Friday, and for the first time since 2003, Germany dropped out of the top two. The United States remained on top despite losing in the final of the Algarve Cup to Sweden on penalties, but it was Germany's fourth-place finish in the competition that dropped them behind Brazil, which moved into second despite not playing recently. The Swedes remain in fourth place despite winning the tournament, but they closed the gap on the top three, while Korea DPR stayed in fifth place. The biggest disappointment so far this year has been Norway (9th, down 3), which lost all three of its group-stage matches at the Algarve Cup and finished in ninth place. This allowed both Denmark (6th, up 1) and Japan (7th, up 2) to move up, while France remains in eighth and England rounds out the top 10. Portugal (41st, up 4) had the best month of teams in the top 50 while Poland (34th, down 3) suffered the biggest drop along with Norway. The next FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking will be published on Friday, June 26, 2009. |
