will go into the business end of as the new leaders of the , published just hours before the start of the Round of 16 – and Les Bleus’ Philadelphia showdown with Paraguay – and reflecting all the results so far in North America, as well as warm-up matches.
“Allez les Bleus” is the fan mantra of the French national team and the decidedly upward trajectory of Didier Deschamps’ team through this tournament has returned them to the summit of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking for the first time since April. They climb above June leaders Argentina and Spain in the process.
Having dominated Group I with three straight wins, France breezed past Sweden 3-0 in their last-32 tie. It’s a state of grace reflected in the latest standings, released following the completion of the Round of 32; Les Bleus are in pole position with 1916.24 points, a gain of 9.40 points from the Sweden game alone. This lifts them two places, overtaking defending world champions Argentina – by a narrow margin of less than three points – as well as Spain.
Unsurprisingly, co-hosts are also on the rise, propelled by five straight victories culminating in their stirring last-32 success against Ecuador. The latter win harvested 18.29 points for Javier Aguirre’s team, and El Tri have soared four places to tenth in the ranking.
Among the other movers and shakers, not only won a World Cup knockout phase match for the first time in their history by overcoming Côte d'Ivoire; they have climbed ten rungs of the ladder to 21st, thanks in part to their 23.63-point bonus for the Round of 32 win.
were one of the last sides to rubber-stamp their Round of 16 tickets with their penalty shoot-out triumph over Australia – bringing a historic first knockout win for the North Africans and 12.34 points. The Pharaohs duly surged to 24th in the chart with a jump of five places.
have proven that they shouldn’t be overlooked either. La Albirroja’s first knockout stage win since South Africa 2010 boosted the South American team by 21.88 points and capped a seven-place hike, moving them to 34th position in the standings.
Sources: FIFA Official
