The Socceroos, whose World Cup heroics gave Australian rules football a shot of hope before violence at AAMI Park brought it down, are poised to reach their highest point in the FIFA men’s world rankings in more of a decade.
Key points:
- The Socceroos are set to jump 11 places, from 38th to 27th in the FIFA world rankings.
- They also achieved their highest ranking in a World Cup, judged in 11th place after their exit from the round of 16.
- Brazil will remain number one in the men’s ranking despite a quarterfinal elimination
Graham Arnold’s side, who won two games in Qatar to reach the round of 16 and scared eventual champions Argentina with a late comeback, will climb 11 places to 27th in the standings.
It’s his best placement since he was ranked 25th in September 2012 with Holger Osieck.
Along with surprise semi-finalists Morocco, Australia will be the top climber this month.
And while the Socceroos’ performance ended in heartbreak against Argentina, it gave them their highest World Cup ranking of 11 out of 32 teams in the final standings after winning two matches in the tournament for the first time.
Wins over Tunisia and 10th-placed Denmark were sandwiched between a 4-1 thrashing in the tournament opener by defending champions France and a close 2-1 loss to champions Argentina.
It was the first time the Socceroos had won two games at a World Cup, while the two nations that beat Australia met in the final on Monday (AEDT).
The 11th place ranking put Australia ahead of former world champions Spain (13), Germany (17) and Uruguay (20).
The humiliation for hosts Qatar was complete when they finished in bottom place, having lost all three of their group games.
Australia’s previous best result was in 1974, the first time the country had qualified for a World Cup, when they failed to win a game and were ranked 14th out of 16 teams.
In 2006, the Guus Hiddink-coached Socceroos reached the knockout stages for the first time, only to be beaten by eventual winners Italy, but came in last of the 16 teams that made it out of the group stage.
World rankings are important because they are often used for ranking purposes, including in World Cup qualifying and the final.
Australia will remain the fourth-highest-ranked Asian nation behind Japan (20), Iran (24) and South Korea (25), but will be well above Saudi Arabia (48), who defeated Argentina in their first group match.
According to ESPN and rankings tracking websites, Brazil will still be number one when the official rankings air on Thursday despite being knocked out at the quarterfinal stage.
World Cup champions Argentina will move up to second with runners-up France in third and group-stage belgium in fourth.
AAP
