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Czechs soar in FIFA rankings

Victories over Estonia and Scotland enabled the Czech Republic to claim the first guaranteed berth in the 2000 European Championship and also pushed it up two places to third in the monthly FIFA rankings.

The Czechs, who beat Estonia 2-0 in Tallinn on June 5, and Scotland 3-2 four days later in Prague to assure itself of the European qualifying Group 9 title, climbed over Italy, which remained in fourth, and Germany, which fell to fifth, to settle in behind Brazil and France.

The South Americans remained atop the rankings for the 60th consecutive month and France retained its place despite a 3-2 loss at home to Russia on June 5 and an embarrassing 1-0 victory over Andorra in Barcelona, Spain, on June 9.

Like the Czech Republic, Spain also climbed two places to sixth, helped by a 9-0 victory over San Marino on June 5 in Villarreal.

Croatia and Argentina each lost a place and fell to seventh and eight and were followed by Romania and The Netherlands.

The only other major changes in the top 20 were Portugal climbing three places to 12th and Slovakia moving up four to weigh in at No. 20.

AP