Argentina climb to second in rankings, Morocco surge

Argentina have climbed one place to second in the latest FIFA rankings behind arch-rivals Brazil after their World Cup triumph in Qatar, while the tournament’s surprise package Morocco were big movers and are on the verge of cracking the top 10.
Argentina skipper Lionel Messi scored two goals and netted again in the shootout as he led his country to an emotional 4-2 win on penalties over France on Sunday, with the title clash ending 3-3 after 120 minutes of breathtaking action.
A win in normal or extra time would have propelled Argentina to the top of the rankings but they sit second behind five-times world champions Brazil who now have a slender lead in points.
France rose to third with both of this year’s World Cup finalists leapfrogging Belgium, who failed to reach the knockout stage. Morocco are 11th after climbing 11 spots, with the Atlas Lions the year’s highest climbers having earned 142 points over the previous 12 months. They enjoyed a superb run to the semi-finals in Qatar before losing to Croatia in the third-place playoff. Croatia, the World Cup runners-up in Russia four years ago, moved from 12th to 7th behind England and the Netherlands.
The likes of Australia (27th, up 11), Cameroon (33rd, up 10), and Japan (20th, up 4) also profited from positive results in Qatar, while teams that fell short of expectations – Denmark (18th, down 8) and Belgium (4th, down 2) for example – will not be surprised to see themselves sliding down the order.
Japan best Asian side
Meanwhile, Japan are Asia’s best ranked team. The Samurai Blue had a thrilling World Cup campaign, which saw them beat former champions Germany and Spain (both 2-1) to top Group E, before falling to eventual third-place finishers Croatia on penalties in the Round of 16.
Japan moved four spots up to break the top 20, replacing Iran, who dropped to 24th position. South Korea climbed three spots to 25th, following their draw against Uruguay in their Qatar 2022 Group H opener, before confirming a top two finish with a 2-1 win over Portugal.
Australia were equally impressive, bouncing back from an opening day loss to France with back-to-back wins against Tunisia and Denmark to advance to the Round of 16 as Group D runners-up. The Socceroos jumped 11 spots to 27th.
Saudi Arabia stole the headlines in the opening round of Qatar 2022 after stunning eventual champions Argentina 2-1 in their Group C opener, but fell to Poland and Mexico to see them in 49th position to complete Asia’s top five teams.
Qatar slipped 10 places to 60 after a poor show at their home World Cup. Qatar had entered the World Cup ranked 50 but they lost all their three group matches in the tournament, to Ecuador, Senegal and the Netherlands. The Al Annabi are sixth in Asia.

FIFA rankings top 10: 1. Brazil 1840.77 points 2. Argentina 1838.38 3. France 1823.39 4. Belgium 1781.30 5. England 1774.19 6. Netherlands 1740.92 7. Croatia 1727.62 8. Italy 1723.56 9. Portugal 1702.54 10. Spain 1692.71