The U.S. men’s national team’s pair of victories this month have moved them up in November’s FIFA Rankings.
Mauricio Pochettino’s squad moved up two spots to No. 14, FIFA announced Wednesday. The USMNT defeated Paraguay 2-1 and Uruguay 5-1 over the past week, ending 2025 on a five-match unbeaten run.
Gio Reynq and Folarin Balogun both found the back of the net at Subaru Park before four different players scored at Raymond James Stadium. Alex Freeman scored twice, while Sebastian Berhalter, Diego Luna, and Tanner Tessmann also found the back of the net.
The USMNT earned 11 victories in all competitions this year, picking up wins over Australia, Japan, as well as the aforementioned Uruguay and Paraguay.
Mexico dropped to No. 15, Canada rose to No. 27, and Panama moved up to No. 30.
The top-four remained the same with Spain, Argentina, France and England staying in their places. Brazil (No. 5), Germany (No. 9), and Croatia (No. 10) were among the nations to move up in the Top-10.
Portugal dropped to No. 6, the Netherlands fell to No. 7, and Belgium stayed at No. 8.
The USMNT will return to action next March for its final international window before Pochettino selects his World Cup roster.
Well they wont be meaningless if come 2030 the US is ranked high enough for pot A. But I understand that rankings after 1-10 dont really mean much.
Too bad the rankings are meaningless.
Only meaningless when you host becauae host nations are automatically put in pot 1. I am pretty sure they will be used for selecting pots which can have a huge impact on how the tournamemt plays out. Whether the rankings are accurate is a different story …
Gotta agree here. “Accurate” is indeed an open question, but the rankings do mean something. I mean, Norway is sitting at #29, meaning: Pot 3. You get a bad draw and you could catch Croatia (#10), Italy (#12), or Colombia (#13) in Pot 2, and then Norway in Pot 3…and then you look down lower and hey, there’s Nigeria (#38), Paraguay (#39), or Ivory Coast (#42) lurking in Pot 4. Instant Groups of Death.
Even in a 48-team World Cup, advancing out of Group isn’t a gimme for anybody. Too many teams that can beat anybody on the day in there.
I guarantee we won’t face Nigeria.