Costa Rica held steady at 34th in the latest FIFA World Rankings released Thursday. Costa Rica’s three opponents, in a ferocious Group D, are now all ranked within the top 11. Costa Rica, however, is no longer the highest ranked team in Central America after Honduras (32nd) jumped the Ticos in the rankings.
Portugal, without even playing in the past month, moved into the third spot of the FIFA rankings. That means Europe now occupies the top three places in the rankings, with Portugal sitting behind leaders Spain and Germany. They are followed by four South American sides in Colombia (4th, up 1), Uruguay (5th, up 1), and archrivals Argentina (down 3) and Brazil (up 3), who share the sixth position.
Germany and Portugal both belong to the same group along with the U.S. (13th) and Ghana (38rd). That foursome makes Group G seemingly the only pairing more worthy of the Group of Death moniker than Costa Rica’s Group D.
Costa Rica’s first opponent in the World Cup, Uruguay, moved up one spot to 5th. Uruguay and Costa Rica meet on June 14. Also in Group D: Italy, fell one spot to 9th. England rose one place to 11th.
As for the rest of CONCACAF’s World Cup teams, the United States moved up 1 spot to 13th — the country’s highest ranking since October 2009. Mexico moved up a place to 19th. Honduras surpassed Costa Rica and jumped up four spots to 32nd.
Only six matches were played over the past month, and FIFA said the majority of changes in the rankings “can be attributed to the devaluation of matches from previous years, most of which were FIFA World Cup qualifiers and now have a greatly reduced weighting”.
FIFA country rankings, as of April 10
1. Spain
2. Germany
3. Portugal (+1 place)
4. Colombia (+1)
5. Uruguay (+1)
6. Argentina (-3)
6. Brazil (+3)
8. Switzerland (-1)
9. Italy (-1)
10. Greece (+3)
11. England (+1)
12. Belgium (-2)
13. United States (+1)
14. Chile (+1)
15. Netherlands (-4)
19. Mexico (+1)
32. Honduras (+4)
34. Costa Rica
The AFP contributed to this report
