Portugal reaches No. 4 in FIFA rankings

Portugal used a shutout win last month to move up one place to No. 4 in the FIFA men's soccer rankings, updated Wednesday. Portugal defeated Panama 2-0 and climbs ahead of Uruguay, which had a draw versus world No. 15 France in the last month, in the rankings. Portugal saw a net gain of 21 rankings points while Uruguay lost 19, leading to the switch in the standings. Spain, with 1,617 points, is No. 1 for a 13th consecutive month. The Spaniards gained 12 points in the month. Germany remains ranked second, but dropped 37 points and now trails Spain by 180 points. England is third with 1,274 points while Portugal has 1,232 and Uruguay 1,217. Italy has 1,174 points, which is No. 6 in the rankings. Argentina (1,121) comes in seventh and the Netherlands (1,044) is eighth. Croatia comes in ninth with 1,020 points and Denmark (1,006) completes the Top 10. The FIFA world rankings are determined by points awarded from match results in a three-year period, with more recent games given greater weight. Teams get additional points for playing relatively strong opponents. The next ranking update is scheduled for Oct. 3.