KUALA LUMPUR: The 0-2 defeat to Qatar in their opening match of the 2015 Asia Cup qualifiers last Wednesday saw Malaysia’s ranking tumble in the FIFA world ranking.
Based on the latest FIFA ranking released yesterday, the national squad under coach Datuk K Rajagobal dropped from 158 last month to 159.
Malaysia’s current position was even lower than countries that lack basic infrastructure for football, namely Palestine in 153rd spot, Hong Kong (156), Bermuda (157) and Maldives which shared the same spot as Malaysia.
In Asia, Malaysia retained 26th among 46 countries with Japan at the top, South Korea second and Australia third.
However, among Asean countries, Rajagopal’s men are ranked 5th behind Vietnam (134), Thailand (141), Philippines (147), Thailand (146) and Singapore (158).
At the very top, reigning world and European champions Spain, Germany and Argentina held on to the first three spots with 1,590, 1,437 and 1,281 points respectively. — Bernama