U.S. drops to 15th in world soccer rankings

Tim Howard and the rest of the U.S. soccer team dropped to 15th in the world rankings.

Staff Writer

July 17, 2014 8:12 AM PT

Despite advancing to the Round of 16 in this summer’s World Cup, the U.S. national team dropped two spots, to 15^th, in the latest FIFA World Rankings released Thursday.

That’s the lowest the U.S. has been since August, when it was 19^th.

Germany, which won the World Cup with a 1-0 overtime victory against Argentina, moved up to first for the first time since March 1994. It is one place ahead of Argentina. Previous No. 1 Spain, which was eliminated from the World Cup in its second game, fell to eighth as the rankings underwent a massive shuffle based on the tournament in Brazil.

The Netherlands, third in the World Cup, is also third in the new rankings after jumping 12 spots. The four quarterfinal losers in Brazil also moved up, with Colombia jumping to fourth, Belgium to fifth, France to 10th and surprising Costa Rica in 16^th, its highest ranking and 12 spots better than before the World Cup.

Other teams in the top 10 include Uruguay, up one spot to sixth; Brazil, down four places to seventh; and Switzerland, which fell three spots to ninth.

Uruguay and Switzerland, like the U.S., all went out in the World Cup’s second round while Brazil made it to the semifinals but lost its last two games by a combined 10-1.

Italy, Portugal and England, all first-round losers in Brazil, fell out of the top 10 with England dropping to 20^th.

Mexico, meanwhile, jumped two spots to 18^th after reaching the second round of the World Cup while El Salvador, which did not qualify for Brazil, experienced the biggest plunge in turns of rankings, falling 53 spots to 121.

The FIFA Top 20, with previous ranking:

1. Germany (2nd)

2. Argentina (5th)

3. Netherlands (15th)

4. Colombia (8th)

5. Belgium (11th)

6. Uruguay (7th)

7. Brazil (3rd)

8. Spain (1st)

9. Switzerland (6th)

10. France (17th)

11. Portugal (4th)