World Cup Rankings 2026

Welcome back to my listing of the best teams in World Cup 2026 after the completion after the Quarterfinals.  I am only evaluating the teams based on their Quarterfinal round matchup - ONLY.  How did the team look during its win?  Round of 16 games, round of 32 games, Group stage and pre-World Cup rankings DO NOT MATTER!.

But before we get to the rankings, I wanted to share my Top 8 list of things to happen during the Round of 16 (or that occurred in the interim between the second game and the upcoming third games.) 

8.  Thibault Courtois injury - The Belgian goalkeeper, whom any consider the best in the world right now, left the game against Spain in the 71st minute due to a thigh injury.  Mikel Merino of Spain, then proceeded to jump on a rebound to slot home the winner in the 88th minute - a rebound you could never convince me that Courtois would have given up.  But alas, we will never know.  And this after losing star Youri Teilemans to injury in the pregame warmup.

7.  VARgentina - I don't necessarily buy into this, but there is so much belief in the world that FIFA is trying to hand this Cup to Argentina that this nickname is trending - or whatever is more than trending - online.

6.  Kylian Mbappe/Ousmane Dembele - The current Golden Boot leader and the reigning Ballon d'Or recipient are the most dangerous combination in this World Cup, and they both scored in France's 2-0 win over Morocco.

5.  With England's 2-1 victory over Norway, and England's first victory over Vikings since the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066, we lose the Norwegian fans, but not before one last huge VIKING ROW in which Mexican future star Gilberto Mora joined!

4.  Spanish Super Sub Mikel Merino (that is a whole lot of literation!) enters the game against Brazil in the 86th minute and scored the game winner in the 88th winner.  This is the second-consecutive game in which Merino entered late and scored the game winner, having scored the lone goal in Spain's 1-0 win over Iberian rival Portugal.

This reminds me ....

Does anybody besides me that is not Italian remember Salvatore Schillaci?  Schillaci was perhaps THE Super Sub in World Cup history - plying his trade in 1990 World Cup in his home country of Italy.  In the Azzuri's first game against Austria, Schillaci subs in and scores the only goal of the game late.  In the next game against Czechoslovakia, he scores again!  Proving too much of a force to keep on the bench, Schillaci was given the starting nod up to next to the vaunted Roberto Baggio, but did not score.  Schillaci started again in the Round of 16 against Uruguay, but this time as an attacking midfielder, scoring the first goal midway through the second period as Italy won 2-0.  In the quarterfinals, Schillaci was back up top with Baggio, and once again scored - this time the only goal in a 1-0 victory.  In the semi-finals, Schillaci was again starting up top, this time IN PLACE OF BAGGIO, and scored Italy's lone goal in a 1-1 game in which the hosts lost to Argentina in a shootout.  Schillaci cemented his Golden Boot by scoring his 6th goal of the tournament in a 2-1 third-place victory over England, while also assisting on the second goal.  

Schillaci did not receive the call much for Italy after that, finishing his international career with 18 caps (16 in 1990-1991), and never again appeared in a World Cup.  He retired from his club career in 1997 having scored 154 goals in 417 games.  He passed away in 2024 at the age of 59.  

Back to the countdown (and in the saddest of segues) ...

3.  Jayden Adams - Shortly after the 25-year-old South African midfielder returned home following Bofana Bofana's ouster from the knockout rounds, he was found dead on the morning of July 11.  Cause of death remains unknown - or at least unreleased.  Adams appeared in three of South Africa's four games in this World Cup.

2.  This game-winning goal by JULIAN ALVAREZ!!!

1.  What is an appropriate response by your team's fans when you score both goals in a 2-1 extra time victory?  HEY JUDE by the Beatles!!!  And Bellingham's reaction is priceless too!

Which were the best games of the quarterfinals?  Here are my rankings ...

4.  France 2-0 over Morocco - Morocco contributed next-to-nothing for excitement, making this game one-sided and kind of boring.

3.  Argentina 3-1 (ET) over Switzerland - Switzerland was game, but Argentina's 60% possession is really why this is third.

2.  England 2-1 over Norway - The first quarter (Ha! Ha! - Take that FIFA) was pretty plodding, slow, and uneventful.  It really picked up from there.

1.  Spain 2-1 over Belgium - Just a truly great game, even if not at the level of some of the games in the previous rounds.  

The top 4 teams in the FIFA rankings all made the Semi-Finals.  But how do they rank on my list?  (Previous ranking in parentheses)

1.  France (6) - Best game they have played all tournament.

2.  Argentina (4) - They win even without Messi scoring a goal!

3.  Spain (5) - They finally gave up a goal in this tournament!

4.  England (3) - Mostly because they were truly tested by Norway!

World Cup Rankings 2026

 

Welcome back to my listing of the best teams in World Cup 2026 after the completion after the Round of 16.  I am only evaluating the teams based on their Round of 16 matchup - ONLY.  How did the team look during its win?  Round of 32 games, Group stage and pre-World Cup rankings DO NOT MATTER!.

But before we get to the rankings, I wanted to share my Top 15 list of things to happen during the Round of 16 (or that occurred in the interim between the second game and the upcoming third games.) 

15.  Azzedine Ounahi scoring a brace as Morocco easily advanced over Canada.

14.  England's Jarell Quansah earned a Red Card for a horrible tackle.  At least they can replace him at right back with Reece James.

13.  Michael Olise - one of France's stars - received a yellow for blatantly shoving a Paraguayan player in the face while the ball was dead.  This should have been red and would have changed the entirety of the World Cup if a red was given.

12.  The world has embraced CABO VERDE, as evidenced by this Uruguayan fan!  This tournament has been great for brining people together!

11.  Belgium just absolutely annihilated the US Men's team.  The USMNT shall now be called, "The Congo!"

10.  In extra time, a VERY questionable foul called against Paraguayan Junior Alonso on Desire Doue, allowing France to convert a game-winning penalty kick.  More on this later.

9.  Jude Bellingham of England scoring a brace with both goals coming within 2 minutes of each other!!!

8.  Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill selling his game-worn jerseys to raise money for medical treatment for his prematurely-born son.  (This happened in 2022/2023, but I just found out about it).

7.   Erling Haaland scoring in the 79th and 90'+1 sending Norway to victory 2-1 over Brazil.

6.  Swiss goalkeeper Gregor Kobel's diving save on Cucho Hernandez in the fourth round of penalty kicks which sent Switzerland through 4-3 on penalties.

5.  Kylian Mbappe, after scoring the penalty kick discussed in number 10, made fun of Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill by pointing in the direction Gill dove - which was opposite of his kick - and then imitated Gill's dive after scoring.  He later then refused to shake Gill's hand after the final whistle blew despite the fact they were both next to each other.  Gill then threw the ball at Mbappe.  For the game, it should be noted, Gill was named "Man of the Match!"  In a similar move, Brazil's Neymar, Jr. taunted Norway's goalie Orjan Nyland after scoring on a penalty in the 90'+11, to solidify Brazil's 2-1 loss.

4.   Mikel Merino of Spain subbed into his team's 0-0 game against Portugal in the 85th minute and promptly scored the game-winner at the 90'+2 mark.  Spain, by they way, has not given up a goal in the tournament.

3.  Argentina, down 2-0 to Egypt, and being absolutely destroyed on top of that, stormed back to wind 3-2 with a goal by Cristian Romero off an assist by Leonel Messi in the 79th minute, a Messi goal in the 83rd minute, and an Enzo Fernandez headed game-winner off a beautiful pass from Lautaro Martinez.  Three goals in 13 minutes while down 2-0!!!!  Just astounding. 

2.  FIFA overturn's Folarin Balogun's red card from the previous round after meddling by President Donald Trump.  This is virtually unprecedented - having happened only once before in 1962 for Garrincha for Brazil.  The fact that Trump bragged about getting it done just infuriated the entire rest of the world and should have led to the disqualification of the US team.  Instead in distracted them, angered Belgium (and others) and led to a 4-1 loss that was worse than the score.

1.  And since number 1 always has to be on-field play, the ENZO FERNANDEZ GAME WINNER!!!

Before I post the rankings of the remaining teams in the tournament, here were the best games of the Round of 16.

9.  Belgium 4-1 over US - Just a brutal game to watch, especially as a US fan

8.  Argentina 3-2 over Egypt (First 60 minutes) - Egyptian domination

7.  Morocco 3-0 over Canada - Morocco controlled the game; very one-sided

6.  Switzerland 0-0 (4-3 in PKs) over Colombia - What a tournament if this is ranked 6th!

5.  Norway 2-1 over Brazil - Even with the game 0-0 for so long, you knew it was going to erupt

4.  Spain 1-0 over Portugal - Heated rivalry came down to the end

3.  France 1-0 over Paraguay - Contrast in styles in which France's talent finally won out in the end

2.  Argentina 3-2 over Egypt (last 30 minutes) - Just WOW!!!

1.  England 3-2 over Mexico - Simply one of the best soccer matches I have ever seen!

And now the rankings of the remaining 8 teams based solely on their Round of 16 performances (with last edition's rankings in parentheses).

1.  Belgium (16)

2.  Morocco (6)

3.  England (14)

4.  Argentina (7)

5.  Spain (2)

6.  France (1)

7.  Norway (10)

8.  Switzerland (12)