Germany?climbed to No. 1 in the FIFA rankings Thursday after winning the World Cup, and the United States fell two places to 15th despite reaching the round of 16.
Germany beat?Argentina?1-0 on Sunday to win its fourth World Cup and first in 24 years. It replaced deposed champion?Spain?at the top of the monthly FIFA rankings.
Argentina jumped three places to the No. 2 ranking and the?Netherlands?soared 12 spots to No. 3 after beating host?Brazil?in the third-place game.
The Americans, who lost to?Belgium?in their first knockout game, were overtaken in the rankings by the Dutch,?Chile?and?France.
Colombia?reached the quarterfinals and is now ranked fourth, with Belgium fifth. Spain dropped to eighth after its title defense ended in the group stage. First-round exits also led to?Portugal?falling seven places to 11th,?Italy?dropping five to 14th and?England?plummeting 10 spots to 20th.
Source? AP Sports
