(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Oman rose to the 87th spot in the FIFA rankings, climbing five places following its qualification into the 2015 Asian Cup last month.
Paul Le Guen's boys had edged out Syria 1-0 in Tehran, Iran in their November 19 qualifier to book their place in the Asian Cup finals that will be played in Australia.
Eid al Farsi had scored a minute into injury-time in that Group A game against Syria that has eventually helped the sultanate break into the eighties in the monthly FIFA rankings published on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo's match-winning goals for Portugal in 2014 World Cup playoff matches against Sweden lifted his country to No 5.
Portugal's 1-0 and 3-2 wins fuelled a nine-place jump in the standings as its rivals played only friendly matches, which score fewer points in the calculations.
Spain leads an unchanged top four from Germany, Argentina and Colombia. Uruguay is in sixth, and No 7 Italy swaps with No 8 Switzerland, which was seventh for one month to clinch seeded status.
Netherland is in ninth and hosts Brazil rose to No 10. Ivory Coast is the highest ranked African nation, remaining at No 17.
Iran is best of the Asian confederations teams, rising four spots to No 45. Long-time leader Japan fell four to No 48.
Agencies
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