Brazil lead Fifa World Rankings

Confederations Cup champion Brazil remained at the top of the world rankings for a third straight month when FIFA published the latest table Wednesday.

European champion Spain stayed second but closed the gap, and extended its margin over No. 3 Netherlands. World champion Italy gained points to pull even with Germany in fourth place.

Russia, England and Argentina were unchanged from Nos. 6-8, and No. 9 Croatia traded places with France, which rounds out the top 10.

The United States, the Confederations Cup runner-up in June, rose one place to No. 11, its best placing since the 2006 World Cup.

Mexico used its victory in a World Cup qualifying match over the Americans last month to climb six places to No. 24.

Australia leads the Asian confederation nations and rose two places to its best-ever No. 14, while Ivory Coast is the best from Africa despite falling two spots to No. 20.

Chile, which beat No. 16 Denmark in a friendly last month, was up five places to No. 21, and Norway rose seven to No. 43 after beating Scotland 4-0 in a World Cup qualifier. Uruguay fell seven to No. 28 and the Scots dropped six to No. 30.

Among other nations rising in status, No. 92 Angola rose 10 places and Kyrgyzstan climbed 17 to No. 143.

A total of 70 matches, including eight World Cup qualifiers, counted toward the rankings.