World Cup Power Rankings: Russia, Japan surge with Egypt and Colombia in freefall
Colombia, Egypt and Peru have plummeted down the latest World Cup Power Rankings ladder, with Russia and Japan the big movers and shakers at the 2018 tournament so far.
The Socceroos impressed plenty of pundits in their clash with France last week, and balancing that out with the 2-1 defeat means Australia manages to edge up one ranking rung from where it found itself in the last Power Rankings update.
Despite again failing to convert a good performance into points on the Group C board, there was plenty to be encouraged by for the Aussies, and the country's prospects of progressing to the second round look better than many predicted.
However, the Socceroos still have it all to do against Denmark and Peru, with both fixtures priming as tricky, do-or-die encounters.
Denmark itself enjoyed a five-place surge up the rankings ladder thanks to its 1-0 win over Peru, holding off a superior side to find one clinical moment that sealed a 1-0 win.
With both Denmark and Peru still to face France, the defeat was terrible news for the Peruvians — dropping a hefty nine rungs down the ladder — who now need to pull a rabbit out of the hat against Les Bleus before a nervy clash with Australia.
France's win over Australia, while fortuitous and hardly a showcase of its obvious talent, mathematically solidified its chances of progress, meaning it moves up to second spot, behind Brazil and ahead of Spain.
Colombia's chances dented, Egypt likely out
Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for Colombia as Japan became the first Asian side to record a win over a South American team at the World Cup, triumphing 2-1.
The Colombians got off to the worst possible start, with a handball in the box seeing Carlos Sanchez given his marching orders in just the third minute.
The defeat, coupled with the suspension of the midfielder means Colombia finds itself on the backfoot in Group H, and dropping six spots to sit just outside the top 16.
Meanwhile Egypt's campaign is likely to end prematurely having registered two losses and needing lowly Saudi Arabia to pull off a seismic shock against Uruguay.
Unlikely to reach the last 16, it sees Egypt's ranking drop radically, below lesser teams who still retain more reasonable chance of progression.
Argentina's shock draw to Iceland made its life unnecessarily difficult and saw it drop two places, while Germany's loss to Mexico was untimely, but not crippling as it dropped one ranking spot.
Nigeria's awful showing against Croatia saw it drop six spots, and the Super Eagles now need to get results against Argentina and Iceland.
Russia, England and Belgium join Japan as big movers
Russia has surprised naysayers and its own fans alike with two huge wins in its first two matches, and as such as rocketed up the World Cup Power Rankings.
The hosts skyrocket into the top 16 with a 10-place surge thanks to the 5-0 win over Saudi Arabia and 3-1 triumph over Egypt. A draw against the superior Uruguay will likely be enough to secure top spot in Group A, something hardly anyone predicted.
Meanwhile, Japan's historic win over Colombia saw it climb nine spots to sit just outside the top 16, while Serbia (a 1-0 winner over Costa Rica) and Switzerland (drawing 1-1 with Brazil) strengthened their second-round hopes with a three-point climb.
Belgium's professional 3-0 win over Panama sees it move into the top four, while England moves up a spot thanks to its late winner against Tunisia.
Spain and Portugal played the game of the tournament so far in a ridiculous 3-3 draw, but with both teams expected to still fight it out for first and second place in Group B, it changes nothing in the grand scheme of things and leaves both teams unchanged from their last Power Rankings update.
Costa Rica's loss to Serbia sees its chances of progression fall sharply in a drop of four rankings, while Morocco plummeted nine spots after losing to Iran, with matches against Spain and Portugal still to come.
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ABC .net
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