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The U.S. men's national team didn't play a game this past month, but other nations merited enough of a boost to drop the Americans a couple of spots in the latest FIFA rankings.
The U.S. men fell from 27 — the highest ranking achieved so far during the Jurgen Klinsmann era — down to 29 in the rankings released on Wednesday, the penultimate world standings prior to when the United States takes to the field again in friendlies against Scotland and Brazil next month.
Colombia and the Czech Republic both leapfrogged the United States, which remains the second-highest ranked team in CONCACAF. Mexico rose two spots to No. 20, while El Salvador climbed nine places to move past Panama to 49th and become the third-highest-ranked team in the region.
After Panama, the next-highest-ranked CONCACAF teams in order are Jamaica, Costa Rica, Honduras, Haiti and Canada. The U.S. men's World Cup qualifying opponents in June, Guatemala and Antigua & Barbuda, are 82nd and 100th in the world, respectively.
Spain remained atop the world rankings, but the world champions are now trailed by No. 2 Germany and No. 3 Uruguay. The ranking for Uruguay is the highest in the nation's history. The Netherlands fell from second to No. 4 and is followed by Portugal, Brazil, England, Croatia, Denmark and Argentina to round out the top 10.
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