PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Owing to their impressive form in recent weeks, Guyana have jumped 22 places in the FIFA World Rankings to become the second highest ranked team in the Caribbean Football Union.
In the latest FIFA rankings released yesterday, Guyana had risen to 98th in the world, and are now only behind Jamaica in the continental rankings.
The Reggae Boyz continue to rule the region despite dropping three places in the world to 79th.
Guyana, fourth in CFU in the September rankings, have been propelled by a series of impressive performances.
They drew 1-1 with Trinidad and Tobago in Georgetown last month and then scored three straight wins in Group C of the first round of the Digicel Caribbean Cup earlier this week.
Jamaica, meanwhile, remain the top football nation in the Caribbean, having won their only international in the intervening period, a 1-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago in Kingston earlier this month.
Trinidad & Tobago’s weak performances under Russell Latapy have cost them, and they have slipped nine places in to 106th in the world and are now third in the region.
In contrast, Dominica have made an incredible jump, leaping 46 places in the world to be 13th in the CFU rankings and 132nd in FIFA.
They have been outstanding this month, blanking Barbados 2-0 and 2-1 in back-to-back friendlies in Bridgetown and also beat the British Virgin Islands 10-0 in their opening Group D game of the Digicel Cup.
St Vincent and the Grenadines have jumped 27 spots to 126th in the world and eighth in CFU while St Kitts and Nevis are up 22 positions to 129th in the world and are now joint 109th with Puerto Rico who leapt 41 spots.
Barbados have risen 14 places to 107th in the world and fourth in CFU, despite less than impressive performances which have seen them win just once in five outings.
They lost twice to Dominica late last month, drew with St Kitts and St Vincent in the Digicel Cup, while carving out their only win against Montserrat in the same competition.
Rankings
Latest Caribbean Football Union rankings released yesterday.
(FIFA rankings in brackets)
1Jamaica (79)
2 Guyana (98)
3 Trinidad and Tobago (106)
4 Barbados (107)
5 Suriname (113)
6 Cuba (121)
7 Grenada (125)
8 St Vincent & the Grenadines (126)
9 Haiti (128)
10 = St Kitts & Nevis (129)
10 = Puerto Rico (129)
12 Antigua & Barbuda (131)
13 Dominica (132)
14 Cayman Islands (158)
15 Dominican Republic (162)
16 = Netherland Antilles (170)
16 = Bermuda (170)
18 British Virgin Islands (175)
19 = St Lucia (187)
19 = Turks & Caicos Islands (187)
21 Bahamas (194)
22 Aruba (199)
23 US Virgin Islands (200)
24 = Anguilla (203)
24 = Montserrat (203)
