ZURICH - African champions Egypt moved three positions up the monthly FIFA ranking for national teams to lie in the 14th place. Despite a 3-1 friendly defeat in England earlier this month, the Pharaohs progressed to maintain their continental and regional supremacy. Egypt's closest African rivals are World Cup finalists Cameroon, who remained 20th of the table. Meanwile, Spain retained top spot in soccer's latest world rankings released on Wednesday, while Portugal and England both improved their positions in the top 10. European champions Spain lead second-place Brazil and the third-placed The Netherlands, while Portugal are fourth after climbing two places in FIFA's monthly rankings table. World champions Italy dropped to fifth, Germany are sixth and England rise one spot to No. 7, trading places with France, which lost 2-0 against Spain in a March-3 friendly. Egypt are the best African nation at No. 14, while the US climbs two places to No. 16, one ahead of neighbouring rivals Mexico. Australia are the top-ranked Asian side, up four spots to No. 19 after beating Indonesia in an Asian Cup qualifier. Most team slides in the rankings came about because points earned from World Cup qualifiers played in March 2009 lost their value.
