Behind the brothers
Argentina surpasses Brazil in FIFA's national team rankings.
After beating Portugal 2-1 in a friendly last month, Argentina overtook Brazil – who were defeated by France 1-0 in another match in February – in the FIFA rankings updated this Wednesday. Messi's team moved a mere one point ahead of the Brazilians, taking fourth place and leaving Brazil in fifth.
Spain continues to lead the ranking with 1.880 points, while the Netherlands remains in second place with 1.730, followed by Germany in third with 1.486.
Another new development in the top 10 was the rise of Croatia, which took eighth place and overtook Portugal, now in ninth. The two nations are just behind England and Uruguay, sixth and seventh in the ranking, respectively, while Greece completes the group of the top ten.
Among the top 20, Italy stands out, climbing two places to 11th. Japan also rose two positions, jumping from 17th to 15th. Ghana, in 16th place, is the highest-ranked African team.
The United States, meanwhile, dropped one place and are now 19th overall, leading the group of teams that are part of CONCACAF. They are just ahead of Serbia, which jumped three places and entered the top 20.
The next FIFA ranking update will be on April 13th.
FIFA Ranking, 9/3:
1st Spain, 1.880 points
2nd Netherlands, 1.730
3rd Germany, 1.486
4th Argentina, 1.412
5th Brazil, 1.411
6th England, 1.212
7th Uruguay, 1.172
8th Croatia, 1.071
9th Portugal, 1.060
10th Greece, 1.038
11th Italy, 957
Norway, 957
13th Russia, 956
14th Chile, 954
15th Japan, 938
16th Ghana, 931
17th Slovenia, 916
18th France, 913
19th United States, 894
20th Serbia, 872
Source: Agência Estado