Re-ranking the 48 World Cup teams after day six: France and Argentina justify their top spots
Both of the finalists from Qatar 2022, holders Argentina and runners-up France, got their tournaments underway on Tuesday and looked the most convincing contenders yet. Can England produce a similarly impressive performance against Croatia on Wednesday?
Day six was all about the star names, with Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland scoring twice each and Messi completing his first World Cup hat-trick.
In contrast to the day before, there were no draws as Argentina, France, Norway and Austria all got off to winning starts. How did it affect our rankings?
- France
FIFA ranking: 3
➡️1 (arrow depicts movement from our previous ranking)
France’s litmus test provided positive results with an opening game 3-1 victory over Senegal. Unlike Spain and Brazil, two of the other fancied teams, they did not underwhelm.
After a stagnant first half, Mbappe clicked into gear despite being denied a penalty, and his long-range second goal took him past Olivier Giroud as France’s all-time top scorer.
Bradley Barcola scored France’s second and proved the team’s strength in depth, scoring off the bench. Against the team that beat Morocco in January’s Africa Cup of Nations final, this was a performance to cement their place at the top of our rankings.
- Argentina
FIFA ranking: 1
➡️
At his sixth World Cup, Messi still has magic in his boots. Watching him score his first hat-trick at the tournament at 38 years old was goosebump-inducing.
Could Algeria’s goalkeeper Luca Zidane, the son of France legend Zinedine, have done better on two of the three goals? Yes. Does that matter? No. He probably was not helped by having a fractured jaw, in fairness.
The main doubts about Argentina revolve around them having an ageing squad. It is a longer tournament than ever before and so their staying power will be tested, but what a start this was.
They will be well aware no team has won back-to-back World Cups since Brazil in 1958 and 1962.
Lionel Messi lifts the Copa America trophy in 2024 (Miguel Rodriguez/Anadolu via Getty Images)
- England
FIFA ranking: 4
➡️
It’s game day for the Three Lions, finally.
Having the luxury of leaving Phil Foden and Cole Palmer out of his squad underlines just how much talent Thomas Tuchel has at his disposal, while the form of strikers Harry Kane (successive hat-tricks to end the season) and Ollie Watkins (six goals in five club games) also bodes well. As ever with England, their success or otherwise will be defined by whether they can carry their individual club form onto the international stage.
Tino Livramento withdrew from the squad on Tuesday with a calf injury and was replaced by Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah, but that only impacts squad-depth options rather than the starting XI.
Will being the last top-10 team to get their campaign underway affect England’s chances? We are about to find out.
Harry Kane and England have been beaten finalists at the past two European Championships (Zhizhao Wu/Getty Images)
- Germany
FIFA ranking: 10
➡️
For a nation like Germany, it’s either win the World Cup or nothing, so in terms of their prospects of achieving their goal in 2026, we didn’t glean much from a 7-1 win over minnows Curacao. However, we were offered evidence that Germany’s imaginative attack will be one of the best to watch at the tournament, but their defending might leave much to be desired.
- Spain
FIFA ranking: 2
➡️
As Spain proved in 2010 when losing their opening game but going on to win the tournament (see also Argentina in 2022), it’s not how you start but how you finish. Still, a 0-0 draw against Cape Verde was a humiliating and hugely disappointing result for the Euro 2024 champions. Unimaginative, uninspiring, predictable and they certainly didn’t look like World Cup winners in the making. Are they just going to rely on Lamine Yamal? There are worse strategies, but perhaps the unfit 18-year-old can’t do it all himself. Our pre-tournament favourites have work to do.
- Brazil
FIFA ranking: 6
➡️
Brazil didn’t set the world alight in their opening match.
Carlo Ancelotti made two changes at half-time, an indication they aren’t fine-tuned as yet. Those changes came at full-back and in midfield, two areas of concern for this Brazil team that were not dispelled by the 1-1 draw against Morocco.
They can still go on to top Group C, with games against Haiti and Scotland to follow. A silver lining was Vinicius Jr’s emphatic finish, an encouraging start to the tournament for one of their key players.
- Netherlands
FIFA ranking: 8
➡️
A decent showing against Japan that showcased their physicality, strength from attacking set pieces and occasional brilliance from forward players, but also highlighted weaknesses in the depth of their squad (their levels noticeably dropped after five substitutions were made). Ronald Koeman’s decision to throw on an extra defender for the last 10 minutes didn’t pay off when they succumbed to a late equaliser.
- Portugal
FIFA ranking: 5
➡️
As ever, the conversation around Portugal will be focused on you know who: Cristiano Ronaldo should in theory be suspended for the first two games of the tournament, but his magical reprieve means he will almost certainly start. Will he finally make a mark on a World Cup, having never before scored a knockout goal at one? Having Joao Neves, Vitinha, Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva probably gives Portugal the best midfield in the tournament.
You can only imagine what Messi’s hat-trick in his opening game did for Ronaldo’s motivation levels.
Could Cristiano Ronaldo win the World Cup, a trophy that has eluded him, at 41? (Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
- Morocco
FIFA ranking: 7
➡️
Morocco’s draw with Brazil proved they remain one of football’s heavyweights after their semi-final run at Qatar 2022. They looked comfortable going toe-to-toe with the World Cup’s most successful nation.
The team has new talent since their historic run four years ago. Eighteen-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi, who committed to Morocco after appearing for the French under-21s, had a standout game in midfield. Bouaddi demanded the ball and controlled the tempo.
- Colombia
FIFA ranking: 14
➡️
The 2024 Copa America finalists finished third in South American qualifying but go to the tournament with high hopes, led by talisman James Rodriguez in what will probably be his last World Cup. Ahead of him, Jhon Arias and Richard Rios are key players but in Luis Diaz, one-third of the most prolific attack in Europe at Bayern Munich, Colombia possess someone who could be one of the tournament’s standout players. They won’t be dull.
- Croatia
FIFA ranking: 11
➡️
If this ranking was being compiled a month or so ago, Croatia might have slipped down a few places due to injury concerns around a couple of key players. But both Luka Modric and Josko Gvardiol appear to be fit and ready to go, so it’s difficult to ignore their recent tournament pedigree, with the experienced core of their team supplemented by a couple of very promising youngsters. Their opener against England should give us a good indication of what kind of tournament we can expect from the 2018 finalists.
- Mexico
FIFA ranking: 13
➡️
An accomplished, drama-free opening victory against South Africa was pretty much everything Mexico hoped it would be. The excellent Julian Quinones’ early goal settled any nerves and then came the emotive, heart-rending second from talisman Raul Jimenez in the second half. With potentially more to come from Edson Alvarez (left out as he builds up his fitness) and wonderkid Gilberto Mora, Mexico may feel the benefit of home advantage more than anyone, what with that unbelievably passionate Azteca crowd.
- South Korea
FIFA ranking: 22
➡️
Well, they certainly had a wobble against the Czech Republic, going 1-0 down in the second half and relying on goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu to make a couple of excellent saves, but South Korea’s comeback victory on the opening day gives them one foot in the knockout stages already. They were good value for the win and if Son Heung-min had his shooting boots on, it could have been a straightforward evening.
- Uruguay
FIFA ranking: 16
➡️
A real mixed bag against Saudi Arabia in their opening game; dreadful in the first half when they played within themselves and barely offered a threat with Darwin Nunez ineffective (and subbed off at half-time), but much better after the break and deserved their late equaliser from Maxi Araujo, amassing 27 shots. With only six goals in their past eight matches, goalscoring remains a problem.
- Senegal
FIFA ranking: 15
➡️
It would be harsh to drop Senegal out of the top 15 after a loss to France, the expected outcome.
Coming into the tournament after winning AFCON (sort of) earlier this year, Senegal can be encouraged by their first-half performance and substitute Ibrahim Mbaye’s nice late goal, even if it was quickly overshadowed by Mbappe.
- Egypt
FIFA ranking: 29
➡️
Still searching for their first World Cup victory, 92 years after their first appearance. Egypt were well backed in the stands against Belgium and looked set to end their drought after taking the lead through Emam Ashour’s thunderous strike, but a poor second half left them hanging on for a creditable point. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush looked sprightly and it’s New Zealand next up on Monday. If Egypt can’t finally win then, perhaps they never will.
- United States
FIFA ranking: 17
➡️
The USMNT’s stunning 4-1 victory over Paraguay suggested their ceiling may be higher than many of us thought.
Most encouragingly, though, Folarin Balogun looked every inch the top-class No 9 that the U.S. have been searching for (for generations), scoring twice — including a ridiculously good curled finish on his weaker left foot into the top corner for his second.
What’s more, long-vaunted talent Gio Reyna demonstrated his gifts on the world stage with a beautiful trivela strike in second-half stoppage time. Christian Pulisic was taken off at half-time over a potential calf problem with the U.S. 3-0 up, though both he and manager Mauricio Pochettino suggested it was precautionary.
Did we see USA's best ever performance at a World Cup?
Phil Hay
- Belgium
FIFA ranking: 9
➡️
In the list of pre-tournament favourites, Belgium were at the very lower end of the fancied sides, with their squad generally considered to be a bit one-paced and lacking in match-winning stars. Their opener against Egypt did nothing to dispel those thoughts. Jeremy Doku tried his best, but otherwise Belgium looked pretty ordinary — at least in terms of pinpointing teams that can go far in this competition — when claiming a 1-1 draw against the North Africans.
- Ivory Coast
FIFA ranking: 33
➡️
Got their World Cup off to a dream start when Manchester United’s Amad Diallo scored a late winner against Ecuador. Having never progressed from the group stage of a World Cup, Ivory Coast now have a 95 per cent chance of getting to the knockout stage, needing to beat Curacao to guarantee progression to the last-32 stage.
- Japan
FIFA ranking: 18
➡️
Probably underperformed against the Netherlands and yet still claimed a notable result.
Having beaten Brazil and England in the past year, they are clearly a very dangerous, technically gifted and compact team, but injuries to key players Kaoru Mitoma, Takumi Minamino and Wataru Endo lessen their chances of doing something special in the coming weeks. A convincing victory against Tunisia next time out would really get their tournament going.
- Sweden
FIFA ranking: 38
➡️
Blimey. We didn’t quite know what to expect from Sweden, who lost twice to Kosovo during qualification but clearly have a very talented side… well, judging by their clinical 5-1 thrashing of Tunisia (13 shots, 1.37xG, five goals), Graham Potter has got the team working well together, especially the front two of Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres. A dark horse?
- Norway
FIFA ranking: 31
➡️
Norway were always going to score goals with Erling Haaland up front. The Manchester City striker netted twice as they beat Iraq 4-1. From set pieces, Norway looked giant, with Leo Ostigard nodding in their third goal from a Martin Odegaard corner.
Games against the higher-ranked Senegal and France should show how high their ceiling can be. It’s hard to move them up in the rankings, as the teams directly above them had strong performances against better opposition, so they stay where they are for now.
Erling Haaland’s goals secured Norway’s place at a World Cup for the first time in 28 years (Image Photo Agency/Getty Images)
- Australia
FIFA ranking: 27
➡️
Australia only managed 28 per cent possession against Turkey, but that was all they needed for a 2-0 win.
Pragmatic coach Tony Popovic has made them hard to break down, and this is a side that could exceed expectations. While Turkey have star names in attack, it was Australia’s 20-year-old Nestory Irankunda who produced the game’s magic moment for the opening goal.
Nestory Irankunda celebrates his opener for Australia against Turkey (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
- Switzerland
FIFA ranking: 19
➡️
Switzerland’s casual display against Qatar cost them a winning start as they dominated, only to concede a late equaliser. Group B remains wide open after Canada and Bosnia & Herzegovina also drew 1-1. But Qatar is considered the best opportunity to secure three points, and the Swiss result could look worse in retrospect if Qatar are beaten in their other fixtures.
It looked like a comfortable game for Switzerland, who enjoyed 68 per cent possession and accumulated an xG of 3.2, but expectations for their team have to decrease after they could not win a game in which they were heavy favourites.
- Ecuador
FIFA ranking: 24
➡️
Their fans created a sea of yellow in Philadelphia but the result was an almighty damp squib, with a 1-0 defeat by Ivory Coast bringing an unbeaten run which lasted 19 matches and almost two years to an abrupt end. They were incredibly unlucky in hitting the woodwork three times but now may require a draw against Germany if they’re to get out of the group.
- Austria
FIFA ranking: 25
⬆️ 2
Job done for Austria with a 3-1 victory over World Cup debutants Jordan in their first game. Despite it being their first World Cup since 1998, they have a team with plenty of experience of playing high-level European club football.
It helps when you win with a bit of pizzazz, and Romano Schmid’s opener was a goal to remember. Striker Marko Arnautovic, 37, showed some sharpness and scored a penalty. They should now be in a battle with Algeria for second place in Group J.
- Algeria
FIFA ranking: 28
⬇️ 1
It’s not much of a crime to succumb to Argentina and Messi, arguably the greatest player of all time, so only a small decrease in the rankings here to move below Austria, who sit above them in Group J.
Fans might be encouraged to know that head coach Vladimir Petkovic has faith in the new guard, starting 24-year-old Anis Hadj Moussa over the older Riyad Mahrez in their opener. For Algeria, games against Jordan and Austria look far more winnable.
- Ghana
FIFA ranking: 73
⬇️ 1
Ghana sacked manager Otto Addo in March, which doesn’t scream ‘steady ship’, plus the absence of Mohamed Kudus will be quite a blow. Plenty of attacking hopes will rest on the shoulders of Antoine Semenyo, and how quickly Addo’s replacement Carlos Queiroz will be able to get the team pointing in
