Eagles’ defeat to Argentina earlier in the month apparently played a part in their slide from the 38th position to 43rd in the FIFA world rankings for September.

Nigeria moved five places down and also dropped out of the top five in the African continent. Cote’ d Ivoire still retained the number one spot in Africa even though they were displaced from the 15th position by Japan.

Cote’ d Ivoire is the only African country in the world top 20. Egypt ranked 36th are second in Africa with Ghana (37th ) Burkina Faso (41st ), Senegal (42nd ) following.

World and European champion Spain has regained the top spot in FIFA’s world rankings, while the United States dropped three places to No. 31.

The Netherlands, which topped the standings for just one month, was knocked from the No. 1 perch despite winning two Euro Championship qualifiers, including an 11-0 victory over San Marino.
Germany remains third and Uruguay rises to a best-ever fourth.

Portugal climbed three places to No. 5 while Italy moved up one to sixth, swapping places with Brazil.
England drops four spots to No. 8 despite also winning two Euro 2012 qualifiers.

Japan leads Asian nations at No. 15, Ivory Coast is the best of the African countries at No. 16 and No. 20 Mexico leads the CONCACAF nations.

The standings weigh teams’ results over a four-year cycle.