Irish soccer team drops in world rankings

The Republic of Ireland have dropped one place to 14th in the FIFA World rankings following their 4-2 defeat to Russia in Moscow…

The Republic of Ireland have dropped one place to 14th in the FIFA World rankings following their 4-2 defeat to Russia in Moscow in their opening European Championship qualifier.

England have also dropped by one place to ninth following their 1-1 friendly draw with Portugal and have been overtaken by World Cup semi-finalists Turkey and the Bruce Arena's USA.

Meanwhile Portugal have slipped four places to 11th.

Scotland, following their embarrassing 2-2 draw with 119th-ranked Faroe Islands, have fallen three places to 63rd, while Wales have leapt 13 places in one month - thanks to their 2-0 Euro 2004 qualifier win in Finland.

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Northern Ireland are down eight places in 99th place, just below Malawi and Latvia.

Brazil continue to top the world rankings but South American neighbours Argentina (fifth) have been replaced in second place by France, with Spain third and Germany fourth.