Despite Ireland dispatching with the footballing powerhouse that is Oman with the greatest of ease, Robbie Keane's farewell match has done little to nothing for Ireland as the latest FIFA World Rankings have are due to be released in the coming days.
The draw with Serbia has also done nothing in terms of climbing the ladder, as Ireland have not moved from 31st after the ranking swere revealed ahead of schedule by ESPN.
Northern Ireland have fallen two spots to 30th, but Scotland have enjoyed a nice jump of seven places to 44th after beating Malta 5-1 in their opening World Cup 2018 qualifier. Ireland's group rivals Wales are up one spot from 11th and have broken into the top 10.
Elsewhere, Argentina have held onto top spot while Brazil have jumped five spots to share 4th place with Colombia.
Here are the top 20 teams in the world according to the latest official FIFA rankings:
1 - Argentina
2 - Belgium
3 - Germany
4 - Brazil
4 - Colombia
6 - Chile
7 - Portugal
8 - France
9 - Uruguay
10 - Wales
11 - Spain
12 - England
13 - Italy
14 - Croatia
15 - Mexico
16 - Switzerland
17 - Poland
18 - Costa Rica
19 - Ecuador
20 - Hungary
We reported earlier in the week on a report that detailed how Wales gamed the system into their rise up the ranking, but it is absolutely clear that as long as friendlies against nothing opponents such as Oman, who were 107th, ahead of Togo and one behind Nicaragua, then we will find it difficult to get to where we want to be in terms of seeding.
