New Delhi: A third place finish at the Vancouver Whitecaps Nations Cup in Canada resulted in India climbing two places up to 128th in the latest FIFA world rankings.
India beat the Chinese Under-23 side 2-1 to claim third place in the four-team competition, which was Bob Houghton's first assignment as national coach.
With a series of AFC Asian Cup matches lined up, the Englishman, who has previously been in charge of the national teams of China, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, will aim at pushing India up the ranking table.
An Indian U-20 team is also playing in the ongoing South Asian Games in Colombo, Sri Lanka with all eyes on the Indian performance at the Doha Asian Games in December.
India ranks 26th in the AFC family, but it's an embarrassing situation as it is no longer the top team in South Asia. That honour goes to tiny Maldives who is ranked 126th in the FIFA charts.
Despite falling four spots in the latest rankings, Australia is still the highest placed Asian team at number 37 ahead of Iran (45), Japan (48) and Korea (52).
Qatar has had a massive 12 spot jump to number 64 while Saudi Arabia has gained six places to be at 75.
The top end of the overall rankings shows little change with Brazil leading ahead of world champions Italy and Argentina. Losing finalists France and England round off the top five.
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