Brazil tops Fifa ranks

ZURICH – Brazil kept the top spot in soccer’s world rankings released Wednesday, narrowly holding off fierce rival Argentina.

The top five places remained unchanged from last month, but No. 2 Argentina trimmed the gap on its South American neighbour from 24 to 17 points.Five-time world champion Brazil has 1 508 points to Argentina’s 1 491.World Cup holder Italy, France and Germany filled the next three spots.Croatia, Netherlands, Spain, Czech Republic and Portugal rounded out the top 10.There could be more changes in rankings over the next two months.European teams may move next month because there are qualifiers for next year’s European Championship in the coming weeks, while Argentina has the chance to overtake Brazil in October if it does well in South America’s next round of qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup.The United States was the biggest mover in the top 25 for August, falling three places to 17th six places behind regional rival Mexico.Cameroon dropped a place to 16th but remained Africa’s highest-ranked team, 10 spots ahead of Nigeria.Iraq was the month’s biggest mover overall, rising 16 places to No.64 after winning the Asian Cup for the first time last month.Saudi Arabia, the runner-up, rose 10 spots to No. 51.Nampa-AP2 Argentina trimmed the gap on its South American neighbour from 24 to 17 points.Five-time world champion Brazil has 1 508 points to Argentina’s 1 491.World Cup holder Italy, France and Germany filled the next three spots.Croatia, Netherlands, Spain, Czech Republic and Portugal rounded out the top 10.There could be more changes in rankings over the next two months.European teams may move next month because there are qualifiers for next year’s European Championship in the coming weeks, while Argentina has the chance to overtake Brazil in October if it does well in South America’s next round of qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup.The United States was the biggest mover in the top 25 for August, falling three places to 17th six places behind regional rival Mexico.Cameroon dropped a place to 16th but remained Africa’s highest-ranked team, 10 spots ahead of Nigeria.Iraq was the month’s biggest mover overall, rising 16 places to No.64 after winning the Asian Cup for the first time last month.Saudi Arabia, the runner-up, rose 10 spots to No. 51.Nampa-AP