Brazil stayed top of the latest world rankings published Friday by FIFA that determine the seeded European teams in playoffs to reach the World Cup. European champion Spain closed the gap on the Confederations Cup winner but remained second, followed by the Netherlands. World champion Italy broke a tie in last month's rankings with Germany to stand alone as No. 4. Argentina's victories after late goals against Peru and Uruguay in the past week helped it climb two places to No. 6, ahead of England. Croatia rose one place to No. 8 even though it was eliminated from the World Cup after trailing England and Ukraine in its group. The seeded teams for the playoffs that will decide the final four European nations going to next year's tournament in South Africa are France, Portugal, Russia and Greece. France moved up a place to No. 9, Portugal climbed seven spots to No. 10, Russia dropped six places to No. 12, while Greece is ranked No. 16. They will be drawn against four non-seeded teams, led by No. 22 Ukraine, No. 34 Ireland, No. 42 Bosnia and No. 49 Slovenia. The playoff draw will be made Monday at FIFA headquarters in Zurich. The home-and-away matches are scheduled Nov. 14 and 18. The United States stayed at No. 11 as the best of the CONCACAF nations, while Mexico rose six places to No. 18. Both sealed their World Cup places this month. Cameroon, which can clinch its place next month, heads the African nations at No. 14 after jumping 15 places. Ivory Coast, which has qualified, is next best at No. 19. The top 20 includes 13 World Cup-qualified teams, and five more which have a second chance in playoffs. Only Croatia and the No. 15 Czech Republic are eliminated. Denmark dropped 11 places to No. 27 despite winning its qualifying group this month. Australia, which qualified in September, remained the best Asian confederation nation despite falling 10 places to No. 24. New Zealand is the best Oceania nation and rose 17 places to No. 83. It is in a playoff with Asia's Bahrain to reach the World Cup. World Cup host South Africa dropped 12 places to No. 85, while North Korea at No. 91 is currently the lowest-ranked qualifier. A total of 192 matches - including 147 World Cup qualifiers - counted toward the rankings, which grades countries by their results over four years.
