Brazil dominates the FIFA ranking; Argentina the epic World Cup

Argentina may be world champions, but they won’t be number 1 in the updated FIFA ranking. Their South American rival Brazil will retain their top spot this month after reaching the World Cup quarterfinals. La Verdeamarela lost to Croatia in a penalty shootout. Argentina won the World Cup for the first time since 1986 thanks to their victory over France, which also came on penalties.

Brazil remained in first place because the final ended in a penalty shootout, that is, if France or Argentina had won in regulation time or even in extra time, they would have reached first place. Wins that come via a penalty shootout are worth less ranking points.

La Albiceleste won two international titles in space last year: the Copa América in Brazil and the World Cup in Qatar. However, they still need to rack up a few wins to get ahead of their South American rival.

Runners-up France trail Argentina in third, while Belgium dropped two places in the ranking to fourth. Croatia that won the third place trophy in Qatar is the team that climbed the most to break into the Top 10, moving up five places. Italy, which failed to qualify for the competition, dropped two places to eighth. Portugal is unchanged in ninth place and Spain dropped three places to tenth.

The United States, which lost to the Netherlands in the round of 16, was the highest-ranked team in CONCACAF at 13th place. While Mexico is now 15th. The US team has already been able to play a fifth game of the World Cup, they did when they defeated the Tricolor in Korea-Japan 2002.

Canada and Qatar are the biggest falls, subtracting 12 places from 53 and 62, respectively. Wales dropped nine places to 28th; Denmark and Serbia lost eight places, at 18 and 29.

deportes@eleconomista.mx