High Flying Socceroos

Congratulations to the Socceroos, who have jumped to their highest FIFA ranking ever with the release of the latest results on Wednesday night.

Having won eight out of their thirteen games in 2008, Pim Verbeek’s men have jumped nine spots to be the 28th ranked team in the world, pipping Japan (35th) as the region’s best nation.

This success and steady climb is no doubt due to our involvement in Asia, with our spate of competitive matches finally bearing fruit.

European champions Spain retains its spot at the top of the rankings, with Germany, the Netherlands and Italy rounding out a quartet of European nations in the top four spots. South American giants Brazil and Argentina are ranked fifth and sixth respectively.

The Socceroos will begin 2009 with an Asian Cup qualifier against Indonesia on January 28, before facing off against arch-rivals Japan in the pivotal World Cup qualifier on February 11.