The U.S. Men’s National Team moved up into the top 20 in the latest FIFA rankings, the first time in the Gregg Berhalter era the team has done so.
After a pair of March friendly wins over Jamaica and Northern Ireland, the USMNT moved up to No. 20 in Wednesday’s rankings, breaking into the Top 20 for the first time since 2014. Mexico dropped to No. 11 and out of the top 10 after going 1-1 in its March friendly schedule.
Jamaica, El Salvador, and Canada were also among the teams to move up out of the Concacaf nations, all staying in the top seven in the federation. The Reggae Boyz leapfrogged up to No. 45, Costa Rica remained level at No. 50, El Salvador moved up one spot to No. 69 and Canada advanced three places up to No. 70.
The USMNT will next be in action on May 30th against Switzerland in St. Gallen for its fourth friendly of the new year.
Here is the current FIFA Top 10:
1. Belgium
2. France
3. Brazil
4. England
5. Portugal
6. Spain
7. Italy
8. Argentina
9. Uruguay
10. Denmark
I would rather USMNT guys develop outside of england….don’t think the players get a fair shake there..back in the day pre-mls/early mls it made sense but over the last 5-10 years, germany, netherlands and belgium have been much better at playing our guys and giving them chances….
For once these rankings aren’t meaningless. Being ranked top 20 in the world makes receiving a English work permit much easier in the post-Brexit rules.
Wow, that’s great news for the American players who want to make a move to UK.
For example last month when ranked 22nd to automatically qualify for a permit you needed to have played in 60% of all NT matches. Now to automatically qualify you only need 40%. Guys like Chris Mueller and Kellyn Accosta would likely now qualify. Really anyone that plays in the GC this Summer and is a regular in MLS would likely qualify. Of course as qualify starts and the NT is experimenting less and playing more games it will become more difficult again. Aaronson would qualify now with the 20 ranking although he may have already based on his playing time in Salzburg and Philadelphia. It could lead to some roster decisions like do you dress young guys like Pomykal or Tessmann and give them some late minutes against lesser teams in qualifying to get them permits. Also, ironically Austria is considered a lower tier league than MLS so EPB would have more work permit points if he had stayed in KC.