The Colombian soccer team has dropped two places to 50th in the latest FIFA rankings.
Unsurprisingly, European and World champions Spain lead the way, followed by World Cup finalists Netherlands and the consistent trio of Germany, Brazil and Argentina.
Among the biggest Latin American climbers are Honduras, who rose 17 positions to 39th after winning a qualifying tournament for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The significant rises of Costa Rica, moving 21 places to 48th, and El Salvador, improving 18 places to 98th, are dampened somewhat by the fact that the fluctuations in the rankings appear to reflect the soccer calendar as much as anything else.
While these Central American countries played in the Gold Cup qualifying tournament, Japan and Uzbekistan benefitted from strong performances in the recently completed Asian Cup by jumping 12 and 31 places respectively.
Nevertheless, the FIFA World Rankings do take into account results from the last four years, with more weight given to recent matches, including in the calculations such factors as regional and oppositional strength.
