PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz are a shade ahead of Trinidad and Tobago as the No.1 team in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU).
Following their unsuccessful outing at the CONCACAF Gold Cup last month, the Jamaicans slipped four places in the FIFA Coca Cola world rankings for August to No.69, just one spot above Trinidad and Tobago, who climbed two places to 70th on the world list.
Cuba, down three places on the FIFA list to 88th, are No.3 in the CFU and the only other Caribbean side among FIFA’s Top 100.
At the Gold Cup last month, Digicel Caribbean Champions Jamaica suffered narrow 1-0 losses to Canada and Costa Rica and defeated El Salvador 1-0 as they failed to get past the group stage.
The Jamaicans, who achieved their all-time best rating of 27th 11 years ago in August 1998, have been the CFU’s top-rated team every month this year with the exception of June, when T&T unseated them.
Barbados — without playing a match in the latest rankings phase — attained their best CFU rating this year of No.4 as they climbed one place up FIFA’s world list for August to 106th.
The Barbadians had been sixth in the CFU twice this year — in January and July.
Antigua and Barbuda, with a world rating of 108th, are fifth in the CFU this month, followed by Suriname (111th) and Grenada, who tumbled 25 places down FIFA’s world list to 113th.
On debut at the Gold Cup, Grenada’s Spice Boyz lost all their games without scoring a goal, going down to Honduras (0-4), Haiti (0-2) and USA (0-4).
The CFU’s Top-10 is completed by Haiti (115th) eighth, Guyana (121st) and Bermuda (143rd) in 10th position.
The USA – now rated 12th in the world — are CONCACAF’s No.1 team for the 11th month in a row ahead of Gold Cup champions Mexico, who are 30th on the FIFA list, followed by Costa Rica (38th), Honduras (46th), and Canada (66th).
Jamaica are sixth and T&T seventh in the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), followed by Panama (78th), El Salvador (81st) and Cuba.
Brazil remain FIFA’s No.1 team ahead of 2008 “Team of the Year” Spain, followed by the Netherlands, Germany and Italy.
Caribbean Football Union August 2009 Rankings (FIFA Rankings in bracket)
1 Jamaica (69)
2 Trinidad & Tobago (70)
3 Cuba (88)
4 Barbados (106)
5 Antigua & Barbuda (108)
6 Suriname (111)
7 Grenada (113)
8 Haiti (115)
9 Guyana (121)
10 Bermuda (143)
11 St Kitts & Nevis (149)
12 St Vincent & the Grenadines (150)
13 Netherlands Antilles (165)
14 Puerto Rico (166)
15 Cayman Islands (170)
16 Bahamas (179)
17 Turks & Caicos Islands (181)
18 Dominican Republic (184)
19 St Lucia (190)
20 British Virgin Islands (192)
21 Dominica (197)
22 Aruba (198)
23 US Virgin Islands (200)
24 Anguilla (203)
24=Montserrat (203)
