S’pore now ranked No 170 on Fifa rankings, ahead of rival Malaysia

SINGAPORE — After hitting an all-time low of No 173 in the Fifa rankings last month, Singapore's national football team have now leapfrogged Causeway rival Malaysia to move up three places to No 170.

Despite two losses to Lebanon (0-1) and Bahrain (0-3) in an international friendly and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup qualifier respectively earlier this month, the Lions saw a slight improvement in the latest rankings list issued by world governing body Fifa on Thursday (Nov 23).

Team Singapore are now tied on 170th with Nepal, Cuba and Cambodia on 98 points. The Philippines is the highest ranked South-east Asian nation at No 118, followed by Vietnam (125), Thailand (132), and Indonesia (154).

The Harimau Malaya, who was ranked No 170 last month, has dipped to No. 174, equalling their worst-ever ranking from April and May last year. They are tied with Kosovo and St Lucia on 97 points.

The drop of four rungs came after their 4-1 defeat to North Korea in the Asian Cup qualifying match, which cost Malaysia 13 ranking points.

The losses ended Malaysia's hopes of qualifying for the 2019 Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates as its footballers languished bottom of Group B with one point from five matches, with only leaders Lebanon left to play away next March.

FIFA World Ranking. Photo: Internet Screengrab

It is the team's worst ranking since Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim became Football Association of Malaysia president in March, and matched the country's worst-ever position of No 174.

Malaysia climbed briefly to No 156 in November last year under then-coach Ong Kim Swee, but the team's ranking has dropped precipitously after coach Nelo Vingada took over, when the Harimau Malaya peaked in June at 155th.

Portuguese Vingada has made the worst start of any of Malaysia's national coaches after seven international matches over the past 30 years.

The Malaysian football team have not won in their last 10 international matches, including seven under Vingada, since beating Cambodia 3-2 in November last year at the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Cup.

Malaysia only managed a 0-0 draw against the Philippines in a friendly and a 1-1 draw against Hong Kong in an Asian Cup qualifier during that run.

The current winless run is Malaysia's longest since 2003-04 under Allan Harris and K. Rajagobal, the latter in a caretaker capacity, when they combined for a 10-match winless run.