The improvement in the rankings comes after the 1-0 win over Paraguay gave new coach Holger Osieck an undefeated start to his national team role.

Elsewhere in the ranking Spain stayed top, ahead of Holland while Brazil leapfrogged Germany into third spot.

Butone of the biggest moves was Russia who shot up 15 places from behind Australia last moth to 10th in the world, even despite not qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.

South Africa flops France also moved up in the rankings, improving nine places to 18th despite their disastrous World Cup campaign, while Italy slipped back another three places to 16th.

Croatia also shed the memory of their 2006 World Cup exit thanks to the Socceroos to also move up, rising two places to take a top ten slot at number nine, even though they also missed out on the World Cup this year.

Further down the ranking tiny Montenegro also shot up the ladder, moving 14 places from 40th to 26th,while New Zealand slipped out of the top 50, falling two places to 51st.

England stood firm at sixth position even with the furore of Fabio Capello's lacklustre management, but Scotland plummeted 10 places to 57th, a fall of 44 places in just three years, while Wales fell 20 places to 104th.