USWNT remains FIFA's No. 1-ranked team despite bumpy Olympics — but it's getting close
The United States women's national soccer team didn't live up to expectations of a gold medal in Tokyo, looking disjointed and frustratingly out-of-sync over the six-match tournament. Despite the questions marks around the group, it remains the No. 1 squad in the world in FIFA's world rankings.
The USWNT went into the postponed Games looking to become the first nation to win a World Cup and Olympic gold back-to-back. Instead, the team returned home with bronze after Canada, which won its first Olympic gold, bounced them out in the semifinals.
The team dropped 84.04 points, the most of any nation in the rankings after the 12-team Olympic tournament. China lost the second-most at 60.79 points, while five other nations also lost points.
Yet no other nation made up the difference to overtake the U.S., which might have underperformed to the exceedingly high level fans expect but still walked away with a medal and retained its ranking.
Sweden, Canada move up in FIFA rankings
Sweden, which won silver after a dramatic penalty kick period against Canada in the gold medal game, came close to overtaking the U.S. with the a 78.20-point gain. They jumped from fifth to second, their highest FIFA ranking in history, and have 2,088.72 points to the USWNT's 2,110.25.
The difference between the top two teams is 21.53 points. In the last rankings, the USWNT led No. 2-ranked Germany by 124.2 points.
The gold medalists in Canada gained 59.32 points to jump from eighth to sixth, swapping places with England.
Germany (2,073.09), the 2016 Olympic gold medalists, dropped from No. 2 to No. 3. The German side did not qualify for the Olympics since the women's tournament bases qualifications for European teams on placement at the previous World Cup rather than qualifiers. And seven of eight quarterfinalists in Paris were out of Europe, which only sends three teams to the Olympics.
The Netherlands (2,047.52) stayed at No. 4 while France (2,038.68), which also didn't qualify for the Olympics, dropped two spots to No. 5. Brazil remained in seventh.
Korea moved into No. 9 and Spain moved into the top-10 for the first time in history by virtue of Australia losing ground. Australia, which lost to the U.S. in the bronze medal match, lost 16.88 points and fell two spots No. 11.
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