A shaft of light to illuminate the gloom into which Australian football has plunged since the Melbourne derby debacle is expected later this week
. The Socceroos, whose World Cup heroics gave the sport such an injection of hope before the violence at AAMI Park knocked it back, are set to reach their highest point in the Fifa men’s world rankings in more than a decade.
Graham Arnold’s side, who won two matches in Qatar in reaching the last 16 – where they scared eventual champions Argentina – will climb 11 places to 27th in the rankings. It is their best placing since being 25th in September 2012 under Holger Osieck.Along with another finals surprise package, Morocco, Australia will be this month’s biggest climbers.
Rankings are significant in that they are often used for seeding purposes, including in World Cup qualifying as well as at the finals. Australia will remain the fourth highest Asian nation behind Japan , Iran and South Korea but will be well clear of fifth-ranked Saudi Arabia . According to ESPN and rankings tracking websites Brazil will remain No 1 when the official rankings are issued on Thursday despite being knocked out at the quarter-final stage.
Either Argentina or France would have overtaken them if they had won in regulation time, but the former’s penalty shootout victory did not garner enough points to displace Brazil.Get a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports deskNewsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties.
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