India drop two places to 144th in FIFA rankings

New Delhi, Jan 13 (PTI) India dropped two places to 144thin the latest FIFA rankings, two days after the 0-4 drubbinghanded to them by Australia in their opening Asian Cup matchin Doha on Monday.

India, playing in the tournament after 27 years, startedtheir campaign on a horrible note going down 0-4 to theSocceroos.

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 dropto 25th place in the Asian charts.

India''s group C opponents Australia and Bahrain --despite their 1-2 loss to South Korea -- remained static on26th and 93rd, respectively, while the Koreans gained a placeto be 39th.

Pitted against some of the best in Asia, India are notexpected to advance from the group, but even a draw againsteither Bahrain or South Korea would see a rise in rankings asboth these countries are ranked much higher than India.

The top three places remained unchanged with worldchampions Spain leading the table, while Netherlands andGermany stayed on second and third positions respectively. PTIAH PM