The FIFA/Coca-Cola Men's World Rankings for the month of October were released on Wednesday, and they saw top-ranked Spain maintain a big lead over the rest of the field.

Italy and Germany stayed in the second and third spots respectively, while Brazil made a positive move up to fourth, jumping two spots.

The Netherlands (5th, down 1) and Croatia (6th, down 1) each dropped, with Argentina and the Czech Republic holding steady at seventh and eighth respectively.

Russia (9th, up 3) found its way into the top 10 with some good results in qualifying, while Portugal (10th, down 1) was bumped down a spot.

Ukraine (19th, up 7), Denmark (31st, up 5) Australia (34th, up 5) and Chile (36th, up 4) were among the teams that enjoyed a good month, while things were even better for Lithuania (37th, up 17), which made the biggest move with a 17-spot improvement. Ecuador (42nd, up 10), FYR Macedonia (46th, up 10) and Honduras (50th, up 10) also made good use of this past month to get into the top 50.

Macedonia's big jump can be attributed to a win over Scotland in qualifying, and because of that, the Scots (26th, down 10) made the biggest drop. Romania (18th, down 5), Ghana (25th, down 5), Ivory Coast (29th, down 6), Norway (39th, down 5) and Serbia (40th, down 7) will also be looking to improve in next month's rankings.

The United States (21st, up 7) became the highest ranked team in CONCACAF as they climbed seven spots to pass Mexico, which stayed the same at 24th. The Americans will play two qualifying matches before next month's rankings as they meet Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on Nov. 12, 2008.

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