Amavubi need to stop freefall

Trust me, because I’m quite sure it’s true that you would barely come across a Spanish or Dutch [by the way I’ve not met one, so better don’t get me wrong], who doesn’t brag about his/her national team being at the top of world football in the name of the monthly Fifa raking. Being ranked first, not just in football or sports in particular, but in whatever field of life, even in little matters of everyday life, is always proof that one is simply the best among the lot. So any ranking, if and when done credibly, must be treated with clear heads, whether it favors you or not—because it’s always done for a reason. When a Spanish or Dutch moves around with a swagger, bragging to whoever cares to listen to them because their respective teams occupy the top two sports in the latest Fifa rakings, would anyone blame them? What about someone whose national team sits 135 in world football ranking, and for whatever reason, criticizes the whole idea of ranking teams? I have sometimes engaged in debates with colleagues about these rankings and or whether they really mean anything to the teams, in our case, the Amavubi Stars. Most of the time, the people I engage with on this issue, they either because of too much patriotism or just desire to weaken the fact in-front of them, always reason that Amavubi doesn’t deserve to be ranked as lowly as it has been in the previous three-four releases, which has culminated in the current 135 position out of the 203 Fifa members. Rwanda has been sliding in Fifa ranking in the last four months, as a matter of concern, this slide must be stopped and the sooner Sellas Tetteh finds a solution to this freefall the better or else Rwanda could find itself competing for places with the likes of Djibouti, Somalia, Eritrea and Sao Tome among other mediocre teams. Some will urge that these rankings don’t have any bearing on the strength of the team, but Instead of criticizing the criteria the world football governing body, Fifa uses to come up these rankings, why not find out the reason(s) behind the freefall, and if possible do something about it. Surely it is too early in my life to feel so disillusioned? I’m too young to be cynical, but I’m finding it a bit hard to believe that a team which sat in the top 70 teams just a couple of years ago is now finds itself in a less favorable territory. The Amavubi Stars are not known for playing a lot of international matches, friendly or competitive, which explains why Rwanda keeps sliding down the Fifa rankings. The more matches a team plays and wins, the more points gained, which at the end of the day determines where a team stands at every month end. But now Tetteh and his team have the chance to do something about the freefall when Rwanda makes her debut at the finals of Africa Nations Championship [CHAN] in Sudan, where they play their first group game on Monday. Only a good showing in Sudan will stop Amavubi from dropping further down when Fifa release the February rankings, failure to win a minimum of two games, at least, and we expect Rwanda to be in a worse position than 135. Here is hoping the team doesn’t find itself in positions where it would take winning more just a couple of games to get back inside the top 100. nku78@yahoo.com