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Argentina not FIFA No. 1 despite World Cup win; Brazil stays on top
Argentina didn't take over the top spot in the most recent FIFA World Ranking even after defeating France in an instant classic to win the World Cup on Sunday. Instead, South American rival Brazil, which has held the No. 1 position since February, stayed on top even after it failed to make it past the quarterfinals in this year's tournament.
Argentina won four games in the World Cup, lost one to Saudi Arabia and won twice on penalties, including Sunday's final. Meanwhile, Brazil won three games at the World Cup and lost two — one in the group stage to Cameroon before getting eliminated in a massive upset by Croatia on penalty kicks.
Victories via PKs are worth fewer ranking points than regulation-time wins, meaning that Brazil was locked into FIFA's No. 1 spot the second that neither Argentina nor France won the final within 120 minutes. If either had, then that team would've gone to No. 1, but a penalty kick shootout guaranteed that Brazil could not be overtaken.
Argentina — hot off a world championship after claiming the Copa América title last year — and France both move up one place into second and third, respectively.
Elsewhere, Belgium slid two places to fourth after failing to make it beyond the group stage, while England remains in fifth, one spot ahead of fellow quarterfinalists Netherlands, which checked in at sixth.
Croatia jumped from 12th place to seventh after a Cinderella run to a third-place finish at the World Cup. On the other side, Italy — which failed to qualify for this year's tournament — was pushed down two spots to eighth, while Portugal remained in ninth place and Spain dropped three places to round out the top 10.
Morocco had one of the biggest jumps, climbing 11 places after a fourth-place World Cup finish to claim the No. 11 spot, the highest-ranked mark for an African team.
Meanwhile, the United States took over as the top-ranking CONCACAF team, up three spots to 13th place.
The new FIFA World Ranking will be officially published on Thursday. For now, here's a look at the top 20:
- Brazil
- Argentina
- France
- Belgium
- England
- Netherlands
- Croatia
- Italy
- Portugal
- Spain
- Morocco
- Switzerland
- United States
- Germany
- Mexico
- Uruguay
- Colombia
- Denmark
- Senegal
- Japan
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