FIFA ranking: Cameroon may depose Falcons as Africa’s best

The Super Falcons reign as Africa’s number one may soon
become history as Cameroon now have a good chance of
overtaking Nigeria in the FIFA Women’s World Ranking.
The Falcons have dominated Africa from 1991, winning the first
seven Africa Women’s Cup of Nations tournaments – in 1991,
1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006 – and winning another
two in the last four, making it a record nine titles out of 11
African women’s championships.
Though they have not been able to take their dominance beyond
Africa – having their best performance in seven World Cup
appearances in 1999 when they reached the quarterfinal – they
have managed to remain the best women’s national team in
Africa.
But with recent developments, which includes the Falcons’ loss
to Equatorial Guinea and their consequent failure to qualify for
the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Brazil, this may soon change.
The Cameroonian women’s national team, the Lionesses, who
surprisingly made it to the Round of 16 at the 2015 FIFA
Women’s World Cup in Canada, which was their first
appearance, moved up 10 places to 43rd in the world and
second in Africa in the latest FIFA ranking released in July –
their best ranking ever.
Though they lost 2-1 to Japan in the group stage and 1-0 to
China in the Round of 16, Cameroon gained 87 points, rising
from 1455 to 1542 points in the FIFA ranking,for beating
Ecuador 6-0 and Switzerland 2-1. Before that World Cup Ecuador
were ranked 48th and Switzerland were ranked 19th.
On the other hand, Falcons, who lost 2-0 to Australia and 1-0 to
USA, gained 26 points from 1633 to 1659 points and moved up
four places to 29th for drawing 3-3 with Sweden, who were
ranked 5th before that World Cup.
As a result, the Falcons are only 117 points above the Lionesses,
who are already closing the gap.
According to the FIFA Women’s World Ranking Methodology, the
key factors taken into consideration are result of the match;
home versus away, or neutral ground; importance of the match;
and difference in Women’s World Ranking between the teams.
Generally, a team gains considerable amount of points when
they defeat or draw against a more highly-ranked team, and
conversely, if a team is beaten by an opponent that is lower in
FIFA ranking, that team loses considerable amount of points.
This means that by losing 3-2 on aggregate to Equatorial
Guinea, who are ranked 55th, and failing to qualify for the
Olympics, the Falcons have already lost some points. Whereas
Cameroon, who eliminated Ghana, who are ranked 52nd, to
qualify for the Olympics, have gained some points.
In addition, the Lionesses have the opportunity to beat some
highly-ranked teams at the Olympics next year and gain enough
points to be ahead of the Falcons in subsequent FIFA ranking.
The performance of the teams in the All Africa Games would
also count.
Former Falcons coach, Ismaila Mabo, told our correspondent
during the week that he would not be surprised if Cameroon
deposes Nigeria as Africa’s best in women’s football.
Mabo lamented that the performance of the Falcons has been
declining recently, while some other African teams such as
Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa and Equatorial Guinea have
been improving.
“They (Cameroon) are flying higher than the Super Falcons and
now they are going to the Olympics where Nigeria will not be
participating. Right from the outset, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana,
and to some extent South Africa, have been leading women’s
football in the Africa,” Mabo said.
“If Cameroon, Ghana or South Africa overtake Nigeria, it will not
be surprising because of the dwindling performance of the Super
Falcons. If any of these women footballing nations, including
Equatorial Guinea, who have become a team to reckon with,
overtake Nigeria soon, I won’t be surprised.
“We have to be more careful and we should be thinking of the
way forward and plan to encourage the Super Falcons to do
better and to regain our lost glory as far as women’s football is
concerned in Africa. Right now, you will agree with me that we
don’t know where we are going,” he said.
Mabo added that the Nigeria Football Federation should focus
on the Falcons and give them incentives to motivate and
encourage them the way previous leadership of the football
body did.
However, Falcons forward, Stella Mbachu, said she does not
believe Cameroon will overtake Nigeria anytime soon, but noted
that there is the need for Nigeria to work harder to remain
number one in African women’s football.
“Before any country will overtake us, it will be very difficult
because their leagues are not as strong as our league. Our
league is bigger than that of Cameroon. They may overtake us
when they have a better league, maybe in three of four years
from now,” Mbachu said.
“The truth is that other African countries are targeting to
overtake Nigeria. When they have a match against Nigeria, they
put in their best. So we need to work harder and make our
league stronger for us to maintain the gap. If our league is
strong, we will continue to produce good players, but if our
league is going down and their leagues are going up, then they
will overtake us very soon.”
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