England have risen one place to seventh in Fifa's official world rankings, despite their poor showing at the recent World Cup in South Africa. Fabio Capello's side were knocked out of the tournament in the last 16 after a 4-1 defeat by Germany, who have gone up two positions to fourth. World Cup winners Spain have replaced Brazil as the top-ranked side. Meanwhile, World Cup finalists the Netherlands have risen two places to second, with Brazil down to third. On Tuesday, meanwhile, England's performance in South Africa was officially confirmed as their worst at a World Cup finals by Fifa, which rated them 13th out of the 32 competing teams. But that was considerably better than Italy and France, who were 26th and 29th after failing to progress from the first-round group stage. Their decline has also been reflected in the latest world rankings with 2006 champions Italy falling six places to 11th and France, the 1998 World Cup winners, slipping 12 places to 21st. 606: DEBATE No way is Capello's team of wannabes the seventh best team in the land

johnmclain South American side Uruguay, meanwhile, have risen to sixth, their highest position since the rankings were introduced, after finishing fourth in South Africa, where they were spurred on by striker Diego Forlan - who won the Golden Ball for player of the tournament. The biggest movers in the rankings are New Zealand, who have climbed 24 places to 54th after going unbeaten in their three group games at the World Cup, a performance which was not, however, good enough to see them through to the last 16. Elsewhere,Scotland have risen two places to 41st, while Northern Ireland have fallen three places to 59th and Wales are down seven places to 84th. The Republic of Ireland have moved up five places to 36th. All four sides failed to qualify for the World Cup and their next major assignment is to try to qualify for Euro 2012, which will be staged in Poland and the Ukraine. Wales are in the same group as England, with John Toshack's side hosting Capello's team in Cardiff on 26 March, and the return game taking place at Wembley on 6 September. England and Wales will also take on Switzerland, ranked 18th in the world, Bulgaria rated 43rd and 72nd-ranked Montenegro. Fifa world rankings: 1. Spain

2. Netherlands

3. Brazil

4. Germany

5. Argentina

6. Uruguay

7. England

8. Portugal

9. Egypt

10. Chile 36. Republic of Ireland

41. Scotland

59. Northern Ireland

84. Wales



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