Welcome to the fourth edition of the International Power Rankings, an absolutely perfect and not subjective at all ranking of the world's best National soccer teams. The purpose of these rankings is to see how well your everyday soccer fan can evaluate teams compared to big name ranking systems like FIFA or Elo. I'll be comparing the results from each international window to see how well each does along with keeping a running tally throughout the year.
Please reference editions one/two for methodology.
Record during window indicated in parenthesis (W-D-L)
Only a few games per team this window, but there was still quite a bit that happened.
With that in mind, let us begin:
1. Spain - (1-1-0) A draw against Serbia was quickly forgotten with a dominant 4-1 win away vs Switzerland. The kicker? They had 10 men for the better part of 75 minutes. It just doesn't matter, Spain is on fire.
2. Argentina-(1-0-1) They'll be a little disappointed that they dropped some points this window, but a loss away to Colombia shouldn't cause them to lose any sleep.
3. Germany- (1-1-0) Took Hungary out behind the woodshed and tied the Netherlands away. A pretty decent window. (+1)
4. France(1-0-1)- Les Bleus were on the verge of a freefall after losing handily to Italy of all teams, but pulled back a solid win against Belgium. Now we need to see which direction they go from here. (-1)
5. England (2-0-0)- To the surprise of no one, England is dominating the competition in League B. Should have no issues in getting themselves promoted.
6. Portugal(2-0-0)- Was it convincing? Not really. Did it look good? Meh. However, they won both games and that's what counts. (+1)
7. Colombia(1-1-0)-Colombia remain unbeaten in qualifying with a solid 4 point window which included a home win against Argentina. It won't fully take away the sting of the Copa, but it's a nice consolation prize. (+1)
8. Brazil(1-0-1)- Brazil....is in trouble. This was not a difficult window in the slightest. Their only saving grace was beating Ecuador (barely) but if Paraguay can beat Brazil, virtually anyone can. (-2)
9. Netherlands(1-1-0) A fairly straightforward win against Bosnia and Herzegovina and a draw against Germany. At least they didn't lose to a better team this time! (+1)
10. Italy (2-0-0)- I'm pretty sure nobody had Italy dominating France on their bingo card. Have they finally turned things around? (+5)
11. Switzerland (0-0-2)- Whatever mojo they had for the Euros, it seems that it was used up. Two losses with a -5 GD. Not good. (-2)
12. Uruguay (0-2-0)- Two quite boring 0-0 draws. I mean it could be worse. At this point, they are coasting to qualification, so a minor letup is expected. (-1)
13. Japan (2-0-0)- Alright, they've confirmed that they can still blow out bad teams. Next window however you get the big boys. (-1)
14. Belgium (1-0-1)- They had the misfortune of running into a buzzsaw that was an angry French team. However I can't say they were expected to win that game regardless. (-1)
15. Croatia (1-0-1)- Happy birthday Luka Modric! He continues to produce for his nation, salvaging what would have been an otherwise terrible window with a game-winner against Poland.
16. Morocco (2-0-)-They can sleepwalk the rest of the way in their very easy group.
17. Ecuador (1-0-1)- Barely lost against Brazil, barely beat Peru. Sort of evens out.
18. Denmark(2-0-0)- There we go Denmark! This was the best window they've had in some time. (+3)
19. United States- A reminder that if lineups aren't indicative of a full strength 11 they are not included, which in this case covers both games played. Luckily for the Americans, this lets them off the hook for what was otherwise a disastrous window. However, Pochettino has finally arrived. No more excuses. (-1)
20. Austria- (0-1-1) A bit of a slipup, however both games were away against decent competition. There's time to recover.
21. Senegal (1-1-0) A lucky draw at home to Burkina Faso and a lucky away win against Burundi does not make for a convincing performance. (-2)
22. Iran (2-0-0)- Well it wasn't dominate per se, but they got the job done. A much harder window looms. (+1)
23. Mexico (1-1-0)- They got results expected of them while others crashed. They will happily take advantage of that. (+2)
24. Canada (1-1-0)- "How can you put Canada up so high? They've only won 3 games under Marsch!" Well, five of those games were against France, Netherlands, Argentia (twice), and Uruguay, and they played pretty well all things considered in all of them. Also, everyone else around them had horrible windows. (New)
25. Slovenia (1-1-0)- Somewhat quietly, Slovenia have found themselves on a 12 game unbeaten streak. Now, 7 of those games are draws, but they aren't losing. (New)
Leaving the list- Australia, Hungary
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