For the first time, the four leading teams in the will contest the FIFA World Cup™ semi-finals.
In the ranking released just before the competition kicked off on 11 June, led the way on 1,877.27 points, followed by on 1,874.71, on 1,870.70 and on 1,828.02. Les Bleus have since moved to the summit in the live standings, with La Albiceleste and La Roja both slipping one spot and the Three Lions continuing to round off the quartet.
These four footballing colossi are now all set to do battle for a place in the grand final of the in what is the latest landmark delivered by the groundbreaking tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Not only have the top four in the official pecking order never met in the semi-finals of the global showpiece, but never before has the line-up at this stage even been entirely comprised of teams from the top ten (though it is worth bearing in mind that the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking was only launched in December 1992).
The closest occasion to such a scenario was in 2014, when second-ranked Germany, third-placed hosts Brazil and fifth-ranked Argentina were joined by the Netherlands, who stood 15th at the time.
At South Africa 2010, meanwhile, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and Uruguay reached the last four while sitting second, fourth, sixth and 16th respectively.
France are into a third successive World Cup semi-final, having also graced this stage at Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022™. Les Bleus topped Group I by breezing past Senegal 3-1, Iraq 3-0 and Norway 4-1. Didier Deschamps’ charges have carried that authority into the knockout rounds, advancing without conceding by overcoming Sweden 3-0, Paraguay 1-0 and Morocco 2-0.
Luis de la Fuente’s Spain finished first in Group H on seven points, being held to a goalless stalemate by Cabo Verde before defeating Saudi Arabia 4-0 and Uruguay 1-0. La Roja then brushed Austria aside 3-0 in the Round of 32 before pipping Portugal 1-0 and Belgium 2-1 in dramatic fashion.
England topped Group L after powering past Croatia 4-2 in their curtain-raiser, drawing 0-0 with Ghana and sealing a convincing 2-0 victory over Panama. In the knockout phase, the Three Lions roared back from a goal down to beat Congo DR 2-1, held off Mexico 3-2 despite playing with ten men for around 40 minutes and required extra time to see off Norway 2-1.
Argentina’s route has been no less compelling. La Albiceleste completed the group stage unbeaten, easing past Algeria 3-0, Austria 2-0 and Jordan 3-1. The knockout rounds, however, have proven far more demanding. Lionel Scaloni’s title holders vanquished Cabo Verde 3-2 after extra time, fought back from the brink to edge past Egypt by the same scoreline, and once again needed 120 minutes to seal a 3-1 win over Switzerland.
Sources: FIFA Official
