World Cup - Russia 2018

So the second round of group play is complete, meaning that all 32 have played two of their three group games.  Although a few teams have qualified for the knockout stages, and a few teams are eliminated, most are still in contention.The below is a ranking of how the teams have looked so far, taking into account both games played.

A couple of notes as to the standings: (1) The teams that have earned the most points are all ranked higher than teams that have earned less points.  Even though a team with two draws may look better than a team with one win and one loss, the team with one win will be ranked ahead; (2) My rankings come only based upon how I think each team has looked so far, taking into account their opponent - prior rankings of the teams do not factor into these rankings; and (3) Score can be a factor in how a team performed, but if a team won by 5 it doesn't necessarily mean they are ranked higher than a team that may have won by 2 goals.

On to the rankings ...

6 Points (2 Victories)

1.  Belgium - Two big wins against lesser opponents, but Belgium dominated both Panama and Tunisia, whereas other favorites have not looked so great.  Romelu Lukaku stands tied for second in the golden boot standings.

2.  Mexico - Scored the win of the tournament to date in defeating Germany.  Had a solid victory over South Korea.

3.  Croatia - They followed up a 2-0 victory over Nigeria with an impressive 3-0 victory over Argentina, that just might have knocked Messi out of the tournament.

4.  England - A 6-1 thrashing of Panama has the Three Lions ranked ahead of some of the other undefeated's.  Harry Kane's hat trick over Panama follows up his brace against Tunisia to lead the golden boot standings.

5.  Russia - The host squad has looked great so far, but its toughest group challenge lies ahead of them.  Have already advanced to the knockout round.

6.  France - Have looked underwhelming in their 2 victories against Australia and Peru, but still have 2 victories.

7.  Uruguay - Have not dominated the two lesser opponents in their group - Saudi Arabia and Egypt.  Can rise substantially if they handle Russia.

4 Points (1 Win/1Draw)

8.  Spain - After the exciting draw with Portugal, went on to easily defeat Iran 1-0.  Diego Costa tied for fourth in the golden boot standings.

9.  Portugal - After the exciting draw with Spain, went on to easily defeat Morocco 1-0.  Cristiano Ronaldo tied for second in the golden boot standings.

10.  Senegal - They might be the fastest team in the tournament.  Could not hold on to 1-0 and 2-1 leads against Japan.  Will lead to an interesting matchup with Colombia, with the winner advancing to the knockout stages.

11.  Switzerland - A great performance against Serbia (2-1 win) on the heels of the draw with Brazil.

12.  Brazil - Won 2-0 against Costa Rica, but still does not yet look like they are clicking.  Tough matchup against Serbia looming.

13.  Japan - Looked really gutsy in comeback draw against Senegal.  Sits atop their group (with Senegal) with last match against lowly Poland.

14.  Denmark - Sits in second place in its group (behind France) after a 1-0 win over Peru and a 1-1 draw with Australia.  A draw against France or a close loss against France and a close win by Australia over Peru allows Denmark to advance.

3 Points (1 Win/1 Loss)

15.  Serbia - Looked decent in a win over Costa Rica, but looked overwhelmed by Switzerland.  Can still advance with a good result over Brazil.

16.  Nigeria - As lackluster as they looked in their first matchup against Croatia is how good they looked against Iceland.  They have the pre-tourney group favorites tomorrow in Argentina.

17.  Colombia - Oh how different things could be without a red card in the third minute of game 1.

18.  Germany - Rose from the dead against Sweden in gaining an extra time goal by Toni Kroos to not only stay alive, but take over second place in the group, with doormat South Korea next.

19.  Sweden - Simply tired against Germany and could not hold the lead, or draw.  Can still advance with a win over Mexico depending upon the Germany - South Korea outcome.

20.  Iran - A boring 1-0 win over Morocco gives them a chance to advance if they can stun Portugal.

1 Point (1 Draw/1 Loss)

21.  Australia - A close loss to France in which they played up to the level of the French, but could only manage a draw with Denmark.  Still have the opportunity to advance, but they must beat Peru and hope France beats Denmark.

22.  Iceland - The feel good story of qualifying followed up their dramatic tie with Argentina with a 2-0 loss to Nigeria.  Can still advance, but that task is daunting with Croatia up next.

23.  Argentina - Looked miserable against Croatia.  Amazingly enough - still have a chance to advance.

0 Points (2 Losses)

24.  Peru - Tough defensive-minded team that has yet to score a goal (along with 3 others).

25.  South Korea - Close losses to Sweden and Mexico are pretty respectable, but just lacks any threat going forward.

26.  Tunisia - Handled fairly easily by England and Belgium.

27.  Costa Rica - Another team that has yet to score a goal in the tournament.

28.  Egypt - Even with the great Mohammed Saleh, lost 2 matches to Uruguay and Russia, although playing Uruguay tight until the 88th minute.

29.  Morocco - The third team to have failed to score a goal throughout the tournament, although both losses were only 1-0.

30.  Poland - A team with Robert Lewandowski up front should have more of a scoring threat, but alas, only 1 goal and no other real threats for Poland.

31.  Panama - The only saving grace to yesterday's 6-1 thrashing is that Panama scored its first ever World Cup goal.  And, a 6-1 defeat to England is better than a 5-0 loss to Russia (see below).

32.  Saudi Arabia - Through 2 rounds, the Saudis are easily the worst team in the tournament, losing 5-0 to Russia and 1-0 to Uruguay.

World Cup - Russia 2018

So the first round games of the world's largest sporting event is complete, meaning that all 32 have played one of their three group games.  Although it is far from determined as to who all will advance to the bracket, several teams made strong statements, and several proved they are just lucky to be in the World Cup.  The below is a ranking of how the teams have looked so far.

A couple of notes as to the standings: (1) The teams that won are all listed ahead of any teams that drew, even if the the latter looked better; (2) My rankings come only based upon how I think each team has looked so far, taking into account their opponent - prior rankings of the teams do not factor into these rankings; and (3) Score can be a factor in how a team performed, but if a team won by 5 it doesn't necessarily mean they are ranked higher than a team that may have won by 2 goals.

Winners

1.  Belgium - The number three ranked team in the world looked every bit that good as they dismantled Panama behind a brace from Romelu Lukaku and a gorgeous volley from Dries Mertens (who is one of the best players so far in this tournament).

2.  Mexico - El Tri beat the vaunted Germans 1-0, but seemed to control large portions of the game.  The midfielders controlled possession and were not afraid in close possession against the team most select to win the entire tournament.

3.  Russia - The hosts decimated Saudi Arabia 5-0 behind a brace from Denis Cheryshev.  Although Saudi Arabia is likely the worst team in the tournament, Russia did exactly what it was supposed to do.

4.  Senegal - Probably the best dark horse in the tournament, Senegal proved that they are possibly the fastest overall team in Russia.  A late concession made the game closer in score than it was on the pitch.

5.  Croatia - Defeated Nigeria 2-0 and seemed in control most of the match.

6.  England - A brace by Harry Kane, including an extra time header to win, in a solid performance over Tunisia.  Late substitute Ruben Loftus-Cheek put a lot of offensive pressure on Tunisia, and we should look for him to start next match.

7.  Sweden - A solid if unspectacular win over South Korea.

8.  France - Lucky to have defeated Australia 2-1 in a match in which France played well below their talent level.

9.  Serbia - Defeated a defensive-oriented, but non-spectacular Costa Rican team.

10.  Uruguay - Took an 89th minute goal to defeat Egypt.

11.  Japan - Took advantage of a third minute red card for an intentional handball in the box to defeat Colombia 2-1.  Without the dismissal, Japan likely loses.

12.  Denmark - They won a game in which Peru often looked like the better squad.

13.  Iran - A 90+5th minute goal to defeat Morocco 1-0 and to snatch 3 points from an otherwise deadlocked match.

Ties

14.  Spain - Tied Iberian rivals Portugal in a 3-3 stunner, coming back from deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 and losing the win on an 88th free kick by Ronaldo.  Diego Costa with a brace.

15.  Portugal - Tied on a stunning free kick by Cristiano Ronaldo in the 88th minute to complete his hat trick.  Only behind Spain because the last foul Ronaldo drew might have been a bit of a flop.

16.  Brazil - Really controlled most of the game against Switzerland, but one defensive breakdown allowed the Swiss to draw against the pre-tournament co-favorites.

17.  Argentina - Also controlled their match against Iceland, for the most part, and Messi had an attempt to take the lead on a penalty, but the penalty was saved by Hannes bor Halldorsson.

18.  Switzerland - Not a superb effort, but enough offense to draw with Brazil.

19.  Iceland - Like Switzerland, but with less offense and much better defense.  A Messi missed penalty was the difference.

Losers

20.  Peru - The one losing team that actually looked like it controlled the game.  Lost 1-0 to Denmark, but that game easily could have gone the other way.

21.  Germany - Although Mexico deserved the win, Germany played fairly well.  I don't foresee the Germans being this far down the list after round 2.

22.  Australia - Really gave France a game.  Les Blues were lucky to come out of that game with the full 3 points as Australia earned/deserved a draw.

23.  Colombia - Played galliantly with only 10 men for the last 87 minutes plus extra time.  Probably deserved to be ranked higher, but the 2-1 loss to Japan will be hard to stomach.  Still likely to escape the group stage, but it is much harder of a job now.

24.  Poland - Managed a late goal to make their 2-1 loss against Sengal interesting, but looked slow throughout.

25.  South Korea - Lost 1-0 in a close match against Sweden, but looked sluggish as this was one of the least interesting games of the first round of the group stage.

26.  Nigeria - Did not put up too much of a fight in the 2-0 loss to Croatia.

27.  Egypt -Played Uruguay tough, only giving up a late goal to lose, but looks powerless with Mohammed Salah on the pitch.  Next round should look much different.

28.  Costa Rica - Lost 1-0 to Serbia, but doesn't look like it has much firepower at all. It'll be a feat to score a goal in the tournament.

29.  Morocco - Played a fairly good defensive game in the loss to Iran.  Not dangerous on the ball at all.  Only ranked this high because the three teams below looked so putrid.

30.  Tunisia - Lost to England 2-1, and in fact, actually made the English squad look good, despite holding onto the draw until Harry Kane's header in extra time.

31.  Panama - Looked fairly good defensively for a half, and even took some - not much but some - offensive chances.  Second half was a whole different game.

32.  Saudi Arabia - Lost 5-0 to the hosts, Russia.