The U.S. men’s national team moved just outside of the Top 10 in the first FIFA Rankings following the conclusion of the 2023-24 CONCACAF Nations League.
The Americans rose to No. 11 after winning their third-consecutive Nations League title in March, FIFA announced Thursday. Gregg Berhalter’s squad defeated Jamaica 3-1 in semifinal play before shutting over rivals Mexico 2-0 in the tournament final.
Haji Wright netted two goals in the extra time semifinal triumph over the Reggae Boyz while Gio Reyna registered two assists. Tyler Adams delivered the winning goal against El Tri before Reyna capped off the shutout win with his first goal of the final four.
Despite losing in the tournament final, Mexico moved up three spots to No. 14. Panama, Canada, Costa Rica, and Jamaica rounded out the top six teams in CONCACAF.
2022 FIFA World Cup winners Argentina remained in the No. 1 spot while runners-up France stayed in the No. 2 place. Belgium and England flipped spots in the top four while Brazil ranked No. 5.
Portugal, Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Croatia rounded out the Top 10 overall.
The USMNT’s 2024 schedule continues this June with a pair of home friendlies against Brazil and Colombia respectively.
Vacqui…I’d love to hear more about this
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“In other words, this team hasn’t really progressed, yet. They were supposed to develop the consistency that previous editions lacked.
In some ways they are worse.”
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I’m not saying I disagree. In fact I agree BUT for different reasons.
Yet in some ways they are better. Did any of those Bradley, Sampson, Arena, Klinsmann groups boss Mexico as the US has lately? El Tri is obviously not as good as they have been but at least part of that is do to the psychological beat down the US has put on them. I didn’t want Gregg rehired but we have a pretty good idea of what happens to a program when the federation yanks the plug on the manager every 6 months. However, to move into the top 10 and actually compete for international tournaments you need your players to be the best players on top clubs and you need experience. That doesn’t come form 15-25 NT practices a year that comes from getting better the other 300 days with your club. How many US players would start for Argentina, Brazil, France, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, England, Netherlands? Pulisic is the only one really in that conversation, maybe a shout for Weston in the right situation. That’s all. There’s maybe 4 US players that would start for Croatia.
JR,
El Tri are a huge disappointment. I always used to count on them to push us competitively to set a standard.
They are supposed to be a rival. Instead they are a fucking joke. Chicharito, Rafa, Guardado, etc. I’m sure are all embarrassed as hell. Poor Memo. He knew what it was like when he had a real team in front of him.
“Yet in some ways they are better. ”
?? Like how? I can’t think of any.
Weah might be a better right wingback than Graham Zusi but that does not mean Weah’s USMNT is a tougher out or more dangerous than Zusi’s USMNT.
I am less concerned about individuals than I am about the team as a unit.
They are more entertaining when we play JV teams but when we play equal or better teams either in friendlies or in competitive they give off the vibe of a team that is beaten before it walks on the filed.
I never thought for a minute that they were seriously in danger of beating either England or the Netherlands in Qatar. And right now, I can’t think of a good reason why they should be favored to beat Uruguay in Copa America.
Of course that doesn’t mean they can’t pull of the upset but , like I said, that’s always been on the table. As a team, they are where they have been , pretty much for the last 24 years.
That is not progress.
TX 3 Stepper,
There’s a cliché that I just heard applied to Nuno de Nottingham Forest, “ he doesn’t know his best 11”.
Using the 5 sub rule it should be more like his “best 16”.
I have this wild and crazy notion that we’ve seen the last of Ariolla, Long, and Ferreira as starter candidates. I think at this point a lot of SBI fans agree on who Gregg thinks those 16 guys will be for Copa America.
More important, Gregg himself might actually have much more clarity on his best 16.
For me the emergence of Gio, Pulisic and Weston allows most everything else to fall into place.
Now Gregg can start simplifying his approach and work on building the consistency of the team, assuming that he agrees with me of course.
And, barring unforeseen circumstances, I suspect that the World Cup 2026 “best 16” won’t be very different.
The important thing is, this ”group” only really came together after Qatar. NOW Gregg , if he is so inclined, can begin to work on developing better consistency.
People can and will argue about why it took Gregg the better part of six years to get the team to this point.
But that is milk that has already sailed under the bus.
Now that we are here, people can and will argue about whether Gregg is the guy to fine tune and develop the “best 16” going forward, but that’s another discussion.
Minor ongoing concerns:
Keepers: Turner and assorted misc. Significant improvement might happen with Matt and Zack but they will probably be adequate for Copa America and maybe a little better for 2026. Unless Slonina takes over as Chelsea’s #1 I don’t see him as being a concern until after 2026.
Defense: Ream remains the best, most consistent CB. This argues for giving left footed JAB a shot since he’s doing very well ( he can actually pass the ball out of defense) and is at least a little bit younger than Ream, who is about the same age as Neven Subotic, who is no longer eligible to play for us. I would happily go with Ream in 2026 if he holds his form but that would give the many ageists on SBI a heart attack.
Midfield: Determine if Johnny is the real deal and if not find an adequate replacement.
Forwards: Determine Weah’s status.
Now, whether any of this happens, I have no idea. But it can happen, so we’ll see.
As far as I’m concerned, at this point, this team will go as far as CP and Gio take it.
Quozzel, what stood out to me from your post most were two things. One, you’re calling players now, not just world class, but elite, world class. Two, you point out we could have a chance against Brazil if they don’t go full speed. Yet Brazil got knocked out at the last World Cup by croatia. I guess your speculation about where Croatia should be in the rankings is as funny as your speculation about the rest of the teams, that’s all. I mean, not for nothing but Croatia Zagreb has one of the best football academies in Europe, and by extension, the whole world. They ain’t going off a cliff anytime soon. ,
Nobody’s arguing Croatia’s punched well above their weight and their midfield the last few cycles in particular was one of the best in the world. Modric is still an absolute magician, even at 38. And I certainly will not argue that their Academy system isn’t very good. Clearly it is, for a country of just 3.85 million to be performing as well as they are…actually, that’s even outperforming Uruguay the last 2-3 cycles, which is right around the same size.
But can Croatia sustain that? Modric is one of a kind and certainly one of the most underappreciated players in recent memory, and he’ll literally be 40 by the 2026 World Cup. Croatia has been in a golden generation and that generation is now aging out. I don’t think they’ll be terrible, but I also don’t see they’ll likely be a Top-10 squad again for awhile either.
As far as Uruguay goes, yes, I would argue they absolutely have some elite world-class players, whereas I just don’t see that in the US pool yet. Yeah, we’ve got some really good players playing for some Champions League-caliber teams. But Federico Valverde, Ronald Araujo, Jose Gimenez, Darwin Nunez…do we have any players of that caliber yet? Or – despite his age and the fact that he has one good leg – Luis Saurez, who has shown with Miami he can still score ridiculous goals?
Playing Colombia and Brazil will be a good test of the squad. I think we aren’t as good as #11, so those two games will give us a better gauge since we rarely do well against those two teams.
Yeah I think we’re solidly in that 11-20 conversation. Germany an anomaly in that group at 16 that has shown they’re still a top 10 team at times and then struggled at others. Are they the team that lost to Austria and Turkey in November or beat France and Netherlands in March. The Uruguay match in Kansas City could be very telling as well. Gregg usually doesn’t try very hard to win pre-comp friendlies.
I don’t think we’ll do well against Brazil unless they just plain come in at half speed. I am genuinely curious if we can dial it up against Colombia.
I’d have us about 13th-16th. Uruguay is probably a little better; we have more overall depth in our pool but they have some genuinely elite world-class guys at the top end of theirs, and Bielsa’s a better coach than Gregg. Germany showed pretty clearly they’re better, at least if we try to punch with them in the open field. I’d have us pretty much in a lump with the group of Senegal, Japan, Switzerland, and Colombia.
I do not think Morocco is as good as their ranking; they had a great World Cup but looked mortal before and after it. Mexico is absolutely not #14. Croatia at #10 is about to fall off a cliff. Their best guys are all 30+; Modric is 38 and still somehow playing at a high level. But even he can’t last forever…and if you look at the younger prospects aside from Joško Gvardiol at Man City it’s grim.
JR,
“I think we’re solidly in that 11-20 conversation.”
Other than for a short time around Couva, that has been pretty much true for the last 24 years.
The play pool is more exciting and promising but the Gregg edition, as a team, isn’t any more dangerous to our betters and our equals than it has ever been.
In English, if everyone plays their best, we have a bit of luck, our opponents take us a little less seriously than they should, then, on a given day, we can get a result against anyone.
But that was true Bruce, Bob and JK were doing their thing.
In other words, this team hasn’t really progressed, yet. They were supposed to develop the consistency that previous editions lacked.
In some ways they are worse.
A lot depends on how the players progress at their clubs in the near future. That is where they will get the development they need.