Jordan moved up in the rankings after impressive 3-0 friendly wins against Lithuania in Malta and away to Bahrain. They also defeated Iran with a single goal in Syria and got the better of the Syrians 2-1 away and 3-0 at home.

Estonia who returned from a European qualifier in Croatia with a goalless draw also enjoyed a 2-1 home win against Russia.

Canada Began the Gold Cup in America with a 2-0 victory against Haiti and went on to finish third with a 2-1 triumph over South Korea. The Canadians also registered a 3-1 friendly win away to Switzerland.

Senegal had a successful World Cup stunning France 1-0 in their opener, drawing 1-1 with Denmark and even knocking Sweden out with a golden goal.

Wales defeated Germany 1-0 in a friendly in Cardiff and enjoyed 2 important win in the Euro qualifiers, 2-0 in Finland and 2-1 at home to Italy.

USA won the Gold Cup on home soil with a 2-0 victory over Costa Rica in the final and eliminated Mexico from the World Cup 2-0 having progressed from their group ahead of Portugal whom they beat by the odd goal in five.

Kenya sent Togo back 3-0 losers in an African qualifier and trashed Tanzania 5-0 on their friendly travels.

Mali hosted the Africa Cup of Nations and finished fourth having drawn 0-0 with Nigeria and beaten Algeria 2-0 before knocking South Africa out 3-2.

Cameroon won the Africa Cup of Nations on penalties against Senegal having disposed of hosts Mali 3-0 in the semi-final.

Malawi won by a goal to nil at home to Angola in an African qualifier and also defeated the same team 2-1 in a friendly on home soil where they overcame Zimbabwe 3-2 and won by a solitary goal against Zambia.

Macedonia earned a 2-2 draw against England in a Euro qualifier at Wembley and defeated Finland 1-0 in a friendly at home where they smashed Malta 5-0.

Trinidad & Tobago sank the most in the rankings finishing bottom of their Gold Cup group with a 1-0 loss to Martinique and even losing 1-0 at home to St Lucia in a qualifier for the following year's tournament. In a friendly match they were beaten 1-0 by Taiwan on a neutral ground.

Togo failed to score a single goal in the Africa Cup of Nations and after a goalless draw with DR Congo were dumped out 3-0 by Cameroon. They began the road to the next Africa Cup of Nations with a humiliating 3-0 defeat in Kenya and only managed one goal in a home win over Mauritania.

Slovenia lost all 3 matches of their first ever World Cup going down 3-1 to Spain and Paraguay and losing 1-0 to South Africa. They had been hammered 5-1 by Honduras in Hong Kong earlier in the year and ended the year being taken apart 5-0 in a Euro qualifier away to France.

Zimbabwe lost friendly matches 3-0 in Kuwait and 2-0 at home to Swaziland. They also lost 3-2 in Malawi but their most shocking result was losing an Africa qualifier 1-0 at home to Eritrea.

Ethiopia lost an African qualifier 3-1 in Niger and also lost a friendly 1-0 to Somalia in Kampala having earlier lost 3-2 to Chad in Sudan.

Australia were disappointing in the Oceania Cup managing only 2 goals against Vanuatu and overcoming Tahiti 2-1 before losing the final 2-1 to hosts New Zealand.

Gabon began their campaign for the next Africa Cup of Nations by losing 1-0 at home to Morocco and 2-0 away to Sierra Leone.

The most surprising results came in the Gold Cup where Haiti shocked Ecuador 2-0 and in a qualifier for the next tournament where St Lucia stunned their hosts Trinidad and Tobago with single goal. Papua New Guinea smacked New Caledonia 4-1 in an Oceania qualifier in Samoa and Bulgaria triumphed 2-0 in a European qualifier away to Belgium.

The highest score of the year was Indonesia's 13-1 mauling of Philippines in the Tiger Cup in Jakarta.