Despite a 1-0 win over South Africa in Durban last weekend, Bob Bradley's side has dropped one place to 19th.
Canada faired worse against the South Africans, losing 2-0 on Tuesday to make it four games without a win. As a result they dropped four places to 55th in the rankings.
England have fallen to 12th place - meaning they miss out on being among the top seeds for the World Cup qualifying draw on Sunday.
The defeat by Croatia has led to England being passed by Greece and they are no longer among the top nine countries in Europe, who will be in the pot of top seeds for the draw.
England's fall in the world ranking means that qualifying for the 2010 World Cup is much tougher for Steve McClaren’s successor.
The drop comes despite England gaining some ranking points from their victory over Austria last week. But, because the matches were friendly means the points gained were far fewer than those won by Greece, who enjoyed two victories in European qualifying matches within the last week.
Argentina continues as the top-ranked country despite their 2-1 defeat by Colombia, but Brazil and Italy have closed the gap.
Spain has risen two places to fourth in the world and the Czech Republic moved up three places to sixth.
Another big mover is Belarus, whose 2-1 win over Holland in last week sees them rise 34 places to 60th.
