Man Utd crock Nani left out of Portugal squad

Manchester United winger Nani has been left out of Portugal's squad for the decisive World Cup Group F qualifiers against Israel and Azerbaijan after picking up a hamstring injury in Sunday's FA Cup clash with Chelsea.



Coach Paulo Bento handed a debut call-up on Thursday to 27-year old Wolfsburg winger Vieirinha in a 23-man squad that will play in Tel Aviv on Friday, March 22, and then in Baku four days later.



Portugal have failed to win their last four matches. In the last, they succumbed to a painful 3-2 defeat in a friendly against Ecuador in Guimaraes in February.



Bento: "We cannot get caught up on the past and what happened in the last four matches. This (Israel) is an important one although getting to first place in the group no longer depends solely on us,"



Squad:



Goalkeepers: Rui Patricio (Sporting), Eduardo (Istanbul BB), Beto (Sevilla).



Defenders: Joao Pereira (Valencia), Bruno Alves (Zenit St Petersburg), Fabio Coentrao (Real Madrid), Silvio (Deportivo la Coruna), Pepe (Real Madrid), Luis Neto (Zenit St Petersburg), Sereno (Valladolid).



Midfielders: Raul Meireles (Fenerbahce), Miguel Veloso (Dynamo Kiev), Joao Moutinho (Porto), Custodio (Braga), Carlos Martins (Benfica), Paulo Machado (Olympiakos).



Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Danny (Zenit St Petersburg), Silvestre Varela (Porto), Vieirinha (Wolfsburg), Pizzi (Deportivo la Coruna), Helder Postiga (Zaragoza), Hugo Almeida (Besiktas).

England on the slide in latest FIFA rankings

England have dropped two places to fifth in the latest FIFA rankings, with Spain remaining top of the pile for another month.



Roy Hodgson's side beat Moldova 5-0 away from home before drawing 1-1 to Ukraine at Wembley in their opening two World Cup qualifiers last month.

As a result they have slipped behind Portugal and Argentina in the rankings. Scotland and Wales drop to 56th and 57th respectively, while Northern Ireland rise 12 places to 117th. Ireland are 28th, down two.

Colombia leapt into the top 10 for the first time in 10 years on Wednesday, while Brazil dropped to a record low despite winning three games in the last month.

Colombia, under Argentina's 2006 World Cup coach Jose Pekerman and spearheaded by Atletico Madrid forward Radamel Falcao, enjoyed a 4-0 win over Uruguay and 3-1 win in Chile in last month's World Cup qualifiers.

Those results catapulted the South Americans, who last qualified for the World Cup in 1998, 13 places up the table to ninth.

2014 World Cup hosts Brazil have not played a competitive match since last year's Copa America and, as friendlies carry less weight in the complex ranking system, they have dropped down the table as a result.

Despite beating South Africa 1-0, China 8-0 and Argentina 2-1 last month, Mano Menezes's side slipped to 14th in the table.

World and European champions Spain stayed top, ahead of Germany, while Portugal moved into third place.

Central African Republic, in 49th place, climbed for the seventh month in a row to enter the top 50 for the first time since the rankings began.



Top 10:

1. (1) Spain

2. (2) Germany

3. (4) Portugal

4. (7) Argentina

5. (3) England

6. (8) Netherlands

7. (5) Uruguay

8. (6) Italy

9. (22) Colombia

10. (11) Greece

Ronaldo is fine

Portugal midfielder Nani says his international team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo is fine, dismissing reports the Real Madrid star is unhappy.



Ronaldo refused to celebrate after scoring twice for Jose Mourinho's side in their victory over Granada last Sunday, citing a professional dispute within the club following the game as the reason behind his lack of joy at finding the back of the net.



However, the 27-year-old did celebrate his equaliser for Portugal against Luxembourg with slightly more vigour on Friday.



Manchester United midfielder Nani pointed to the celebration when asked what the situation regarding Ronaldo is.



Nani told Marca: "Ronaldo's fine. Haven't you seen him? He's not sad, he's fine."



Helder Postiga gave Portugal the lead in the second half and Ronaldo was also the first to congratulate the Zaragoza forward.



Paulo Bento's side host Azerbaijan in their second World Cup qualifier on Tuesday.

Portugal climb fourth as African quartet fly

England remain third in the FIFA rankings with Portugal the only side making a move inside the top 10.

Portugal have climbed one place to fourth, swapping with Uruguay, in the table adjusted after the August round of internationals.

World and European champions Spain stay top, with Germany second while Italy, Argentina, Holland, Croatia and Denmark make up the top 10.

The Republic of Ireland remain 26th, Wales drop eight places to 45th, two spots above Scotland, with Northern Ireland back in 129th.



Switzerland have broken into the top 20 with a three-place rise from 23rd, while Slovenia are big movers, up nine spots to 24th, with Belgium up from 53rd to 40th.





1. Spain 1617

2. Germany 1437

3. England 1274

4. Portugal 1232

5. Uruguay 1217

6. Italy 1174

7. Argentina 1121

8. Netherlands 1044

9. Croatia 1020

10. Denmark 1006

11. Greece 1001

12. Brazil 996

13. Russia 990

14. Chile 984

15. France 965

16. Côte d'Ivoire 912

17. Ecuador 890

18. Sweden 875

19. Czech Republic 869

20. Switzerland 847

21. Mexico 845

22. Colombia 843

23. Japan 793

24. Slovenia 784

25. Australia 778

26. Republic of Ireland 768

27. Korea Republic 763

28. Algeria 734

29. Paraguay 728

30. Bosnia-Herzegovina 717