Egypt climb 9 places in world ranking

Egypt jumped nine positions in the monthly FIFA ranking announced on 6 June 2012, rising to 48 from last month’s 57. The Pharaohs kept their position in the African top ten and the Arab top five after beating Mozambique 2-0 in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers last weekend. Spain will begin its defence of the European Championship as the world's top-ranked team, while the United States climbed a spot to 28.                        Germany lost its No. 2 slot to Uruguay, falling to No. 3 ahead of its Euro 2012 group opponent the Netherlands. Group B rival Portugal plummeted from 5 to 10. The winners of seven African Cup of Nations (CAN) titles, who were in the top ten last year, kept sliding in the global ranking after failing to qualify for the 2012 tournament. Under current American coach Bob Bradley, the team played their first official competitive match in more than nine months against Mozambique. They will play with Guinea and Zimbabwe in Group G of the African World Cup qualifiers. They are also scheduled to play the Central African Republic in CAN 2013 qualifiers later in June. FIFA rankings for June (May positions in parentheses): 1. Spain (1) 2. Uruguay (3) 3. Germany (2) 4. Netherlands (4) 5. Brazil (6) 6. England (7) 7. Argentina (9) 8. Croatia (8) 9. Denmark (10) 10. Portugal (5) Top 5 Arab teams: 32. Algeria (38) 42. Libya (46) 46. Tunisia (56) 48. Egypt (57) 67. Morocco (60) Top 10 African teams: 16. Ivory Coast (15) 25. Ghana (22) 32. Algeria (38) 42. Libya (46) 43. Mali (39) 44. Zambia (40) 46. Tunisia (56) 48. Egypt (57) 49. Gabon (42) 59. Sierra Leone (61) ahramonline .