Canada drops to No. 8 in latest FIFA rankings while debate over World Cup playing surface continues

Despite not playing a game since mid-June, Canada has dropped a spot to No. 8 in the latest FIFA world rankings released on Friday. England took advantage of Canada's inactivity and earned more than enough points from their two final qualifying games for the 2015 World Cup to jump to No. 7.

CONCACAF's qualifying tournament takes places in mid-October but having already secured their spot as the tournament's host Canada will not participate.

Instead they will load up on challenging friendlies. Canada has two games scheduled against reigning World Cup champions Japan, October 25 in Edmonton and October 28 in Vancouver. SVT, Sweden's public broadcaster, has reported that a November friendly between No. 3 Sweden and Canada is in the works.

Meanwhile, the debate over the playing surface for the World Cup rages on. Members of the top-ranked U.S. squad, Abby Wambach the most vocal among them, continue to criticize the fact that artificial turf will be used throughout the tournament instead of natural grass.

''We have to stand up and put our foot down, and say, 'You know what? This isn't good enough. This isn't right. And we deserve to be treated equally as the men,'' Wambach told the Associated Press. "Even if this World Cup doesn't get changed over to grass. I want to make sure that we're loud enough and we get heard by all the countries with women fighting this fight, so that it never happens again."

Now a Canadian star has put herself directly against the Americans. According to TSN, FieldTurf, the manufacturer of the playing surface in four of the six venues that will host games, has signed Kaylyn Kyle to an endorsement contract.

Don't expect this conversation to go away anytime soon. The World Cup kicks off June 6 in Edmonton and the final will be played July 5 in Vancouver.