After a pair of tough defeats in November, the U.S. Men’s National Team has dropped two places to 25th in the latest FIFA rankings.
The USMNT lost to fifth-ranked England and 18th-ranked Italy since the previous ranking in October.
25th overall is good for second amongst Concacaf teams, as 17th-ranked Mexico also dropped a place since October. El Tri lost a pair of 2-0 friendlies this month to Argentina which saw them fall a place in the rankings.
Costa Rica moved up a place to 36th, while Jamaica fell once to 54th. Honduras (62nd), El Salvador (70th), Panama (71st), Canada (78th), Curacao (80th), and Trinidad & Tobago (92nd) round out the Concacaf representatives in the top 100.
Meanwhile, Belgium remained the No. 1 ranked team in FIFA’s rankings, despite a recent 5-2 loss to Switzerland in the UEFA Nations League. The top five saw no movement, as France, Brazil, Croatia, and England all stayed in their places. Portugal jumped up a place to No. 6 while Uruguay fell to seventh.
Here’s the full top 10:
1.) Belgium
2.) France
3.) Brazil
4.) Croatia
5.) England
6.) Portugal
7.) Uruguay
8.) Switzerland
9.) Spain
10.) Denmark
Weird to not see Germany and Spain in top 10
Spain is 9.
As ridiculous as FIFA rankings always are, I can’t help but think we need to be paying attention to them starting…. pretty much now. If Qatar 2022 is expanded to 48 teams (this is under consideration), the premium on being a seeded team will be immense. While I have to imagine any such expansion will include at least 1 seeding for every region (perhaps based on regional title, i.e. Gold Cup or hex standing), we should accept that it is utterly imperative that we are the “top team” in CONCACAF, and if possible, one of the top 16 teams in FIFA rankings.
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Personally, I think 48 teams is a disastrous idea. Better to just go to 64, and add another knockout round. Two guaranteed games is just crappy.
Denmark is like 70% Eriksen.