NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 16- The twin losses against Iraq and Thailand in the recent Asian Tour of friendly matches by Harambee Stars have proved costly, as the Kenyan football team slumped down a massive 14 places in the latest FIFA rankings released on Monday to rank at 102.
Stars lost 2-1 to the Iraqis with whom they were ranked same at 88 before travelling to Bangkok where they suffered a 1-0 loss to Thailand’s War Elephants who were ranked 137th.
It was Iraq who benefited hugely from the friendly match as they moved eight slots up to 80th while Thailand dropped down one spot to 138th.
Stars have not won any of their last four matches, losing three and drawing once, against Mozambique courtesy of a late equalizer.
Despite the withering state of the national team, Football Kenya Federation president Nick Mwendwa has insisted he will keep faith on first coach Stanley Okumbi despite growing public dissatisfaction with his performance.
While the Harambee Stars continue dropping on the rankings, neighbors Uganda moved a spot up to 70th to retain their status as East Africa’s best ranked team. Rwanda remained static at 118th while Tanzania dropped down a massive 11 places to 136th.
Sudan and Ethiopia both moved down seven places to rank 141st and 151st respectively.
Tunisia moved up three places to rank as Africa’s best team at 28th while Egypt who qualified to the World Cup for the first time since 1990 remained static at position 30. Senegal is the third best ranked African country after moving one spot up to 32nd.
Worldwide, the top five has not changed with Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina and Brazil remaining the world’s best in that order.