Currently, there are no matches scheduled involving African teams until the June 2016 FIFA ranking deadline. Of course, this will most likely change, but until then, here's a quick look at what happened last month.
Looking at the sims I ran in February, Cape Verde Islands gloriously imploded, making way for Egypt to grab an unexpected Pot 1 slot.
Congo DR and Guinea outperformed former AFCON winners Nigeria and Cameroon and managed to climb to Pot 2 at their expense.
Morocco's 2 wins vs. Cape Verde Islands saw them climb out of Pot 4, with Uganda dropping from Pot 3.
Algeria 786 Côte d'Ivoire 740 Ghana 728 Senegal 676 Egypt 631 ------------------------ Tunisia 629 Cape Verde Islands 620 Congo DR 596 Congo 583 Guinea 573 ------------------------ Mali 569 Cameroon 566 Morocco 557 Nigeria 548 South Africa 529 ------------------------ Uganda 500 Burkina Faso 479 Zambia 447 Gabon 395 Libya 293
Pot 1: Algeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Egypt
Pot 2: Tunisia, Cape Verde Islands, Congo DR, Congo, Guinea
Pot 3: Mali, Cameroon, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa
Pot 4: Uganda, Burkina Faso, Zambia, Gabon, Libya
Pot 2 and 3 need to switch. There are better teams in pot 3 than 2.
ReplyDeleteThe scary pot is pot 3.
ReplyDeleteFriendlies must be played no later than 29 May to have any effect. It doesn't matter if a friendly is played on a non-FIFA date. As long as it's considered an "A" match, it will affect the ranking.
ReplyDeleteEgypt have less points because their win vs. Chad was removed from the calculation after Chad withdrew.
As an Egyptian, I must say it is stunning to see them as likely Pot 1 holders. A month or two ago it was looking impossible...
ReplyDeleteIf we do end up top seeded, that would be a remarkable achievement, and there would be even more pressure to qualify. But I think we can do it.
One thing's for sure: all the groups will be very tight! I think Algeria and Cote d'Ivoire are the most likely to win any tough groups though. I'd love to see Egypt finally qualify again - they've had so much quality and success come through their ranks since 1990 and surely deserved to be there once or twice.. Most notably 2010 lol...
ReplyDeleteCIV playing a friendly against Hungary on May 20.
ReplyDeleteMorocco is back. To be in the same pot as Cameron and Nigeria is good to avoid them in qualifying group. Good luck
ReplyDelete