Big Movers of 2012
The United States replaced Japan at the top of the ranking after playing a massive 32 matches and winning the London Olympics by defeating the Japanese in the final.
Ivory Coast battered Mozambique 7-0 at home and 5-0 away from home in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and put 6 past Senegal in a friendly, but their most impressive result was their astonishing 5-0 win over Ethiopia in the finals.
Equatorial Guinea hosted the Africa Cup of Nations where they not only defeated South Africa 1-0 in a group match but also hammered them 4-0 in the final to lift the cup.
South Africabeat Northern Ireland 2-0 in the Cyprus Cup, held Japan to a goalless draw in the Olympic Games in Wales and stunned Nigeria 1-0 in the semi-final of the Africa Cup of Nations where they finished second to hosts Equatorial Guinea.
Zambia lost the second leg of the preliminary round of the Africa Cup of Nations 4-2 in Malawi and only progressed on the strength of their home result. They were also thumped 5-0 at home to Zimbabwe in a friendly.
Nigeria drew 0-0 at home to South Africa in a friendly match but went into the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations with high hopes only to suffer a 1-0 loss to South Africa in the semi final and finish off with a 1-0 defeat to Cameroon.
Cuba were beaten 2-0 by Costa Rica and 3-0 by Haiti in the Olympic Games qualifiers in Canada.
Ugandacould only draw 1-1 at home to DR Congo and were brushed aside 4-0 in the away match in the preliminary round of the Africa Cup of Nations.
The most surprising result was Samoa's 4-3 victory over Vanuatu in an Olympic Games qualifier in Tonga followed by Malawi's 4-2 win against their Zambian visitors and the 5-0 defeat of Ethiopia to the Ivorians in the Africa Cup of Nations.
The highest score of the year was the 14-0 demolition of the Dominican Republic by the USA in an Olympic Games qualifier in Canada.
There were 4 new teams in the rankings with Bhutan moving into the 171st place followed by Afghanistan, Kuwait and finally Qatar who moved into the bottom of the rankings.
|