Ireland's World Cup foes Wales are once again the headline news as their impressive climb up the FIFA world rankings continues. The top seeds in Ireland's World Cup qualification group are up to ninth in the world as they continue to sit pretty above the likes of Spain, Netherlands and Italy.
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That ranking certainly shows that we won't be sailing through to Russia 2018 (as if we didn't know that already). However, there is a bit of good news for Ireland as we're once again included among the top 50 nations in world football. Huzzah.
We still can't quite get past those pesky Cape Verde Islands but nonetheless it's the latest small step back up the rankings. We'll be breathing down Wales' necks in no time.
