India drop two places to 144th in FIFA rankings

New Delhi: India dropped two places to 144th in the latest FIFA rankings, two days after the 0-4 drubbing

handed to them by Australia in their opening Asian Cup match in Doha on Monday. India, playing in the tournament after 27 years, started their campaign on a horrible note going down 0-4 to the Socceroos. Though the match was considered for the latest rankings, the team neither won or lost any points for the result. The dip in the world rankings has also seen the team drop to 25th place in the Asian charts. India`s group C opponents Australia and Bahrain -- despite their 1-2 loss to South Korea -- remained static on 26th and 93rd, respectively, while the Koreans gained a place to be 39th. Pitted against some of the best in Asia, India are not expected to advance from the group, but even a draw against either Bahrain or South Korea would see a rise in rankings as both these countries are ranked much higher than India. The top three places remained unchanged with world champions Spain leading the table, while Netherlands and Germany stayed on second and third positions respectively. PTI