The World Cup in Qatar is just around the corner and American fans can’t be any more excited. The USMNT have solidified their place in the tournament, and the team has never looked better at any point in American history.

Gregg Berhalter’s team is one of the youngest national teams in the world, but with that youth comes a lot of inexperience. The team’s captain, Christian Pulisic hasn’t turned 25 yet, and neither has the team’s other big stars, Weston McKennie, Sergino Dest and Giovanni Reyna.

It’ll be interesting to see what this young team can accomplish at the World Cup, but the ceiling is definitely high.

The USMNT climb one spot in the rankings

The USMNT’s performances in the international friendlies in June were highly impressive. They drew against a very strong Uruguay team and demolished Morocco by a score of 4-0. Berhalter’s men built up from those results to go into the CONCACAF Nations League and get four points from two matches against El Salvador and Grenada.

While the level of opposition wasn’t as high as it could be, the results are still there. Their performances were also noticed by FIFA, who recently published their updated rankings for all nations. The USMNT rose one spot to climb to 14th place among all countries.

They are still behind Mexico in 12th place, but if they keep playing like this, their position can only rise.

France and Italy drop after mixed results

On the other hand, World Cup holders France dropped out of the top three. Argentina overtook France to grab third place in the men’s FIFA rankings and joined Brazil and Belgium in 1st and 2nd place respectively.

Another demotion happened to the winners of the Euros last year, Italy, who are missing out on the World Cup in Qatar. They recently lost the Finalissima trophy to Argentina and dropped down to 7th place in the rankings, one below Spain.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal suffered a similar fate as they are now in 9th place in the rankings, dangerously close to getting out of the top 10. It’ll be interesting to see if things can change for them before the World Cup.

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