Way-too-early 2026 World Cup Power Rankings: Spain are flying but Thomas Tuchel has work to do with stuttering England & USMNT remain rooted to the bottom despite Mauricio Pochettino coup

Mauricio Pochettino’s long-awaited appointment as the USMNT’s new coach was announced in September to great fanfare and the Argentine’s reign kicked off with an encouraging 2-0 win over Panama in Austin.

However, Pochettino is no miracle-worker and the scale of the task ahead of him was made clear during his second outing: a comprehensive 2-0 loss to Mexico

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  15Uruguay ⬇️

  Are the wheels already coming off Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay? The Celeste made a stunning start to life under the notoriously demanding Argentine, beating Brazil and Argentina in World Cup qualifying before finishing third at the 2024 Copa America.

  However, they’ve now failed to score in their last four matches. There are somewhat mitigating circumstances, in the sense that a number of key players were suspended for their respective roles in the clashes with fans that marred the Copa America semi-final loss to Colombia. It’s also worth pointing out that despite dropping four points over the international break, Uruguay still sit third in the CONMEBOL qualifying group.

  However, recent results, coupled with the bitter attack the recently-retired Luis Suarez launched on Bielsa and his coaching methods, suggests that there are major problems in the Uruguayan squad that will need to be resolved one way or another before the country’s qualifying campaign goes off the rails.

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  14Mexico ⬆️

  Jaime Lozano led Mexico to Gold Cup glory in 2023, but he was sacked after this summer’s atrocious Copa America campaign in which El Tri failed dismally to get out of a very winnable group featuring Jamaica, Venezuela and Ecuador. Consequently, Javier Aguirre is back for a third spell in charge and is being assisted by the legendary Rafael Marquez, who has been pencilled in to take over as head coach after the World Cup.

  The pair certainly seem to be working well together. Mexico have yet to concede a goal in their three official friendlies so far and performed particularly impressively in Tuesday’s dominant 2-0 win over Mauricio Pochettino’s USMNT in Zapopan – the nation’s first victory over their great rivals since 2019.

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  13Canada ⬆️

  The lowest-ranked team on our list (40th), but Canada look like they’re going places under Jesse Marsch. The American only took over in May and suffered a chastening 4-0 loss to Netherlands in his opening game, but a very creditable 0-0 draw with France proved a sign of things to come, with the Canucks finishing fourth at the 2024 Copa America – which arguably ranks as the finest achievement in the nation’s soccer history.

  The challenge now, of course, is to make an even bigger splash at the 2026 World Cup. Canada have only qualified for the finals on two previous occasions (1986 and 2022) and they lost all three of their group games on both occasions, but Marsch has already shown that he could achieve something special with a hungry team led by the excellent Alphonso Davies and spearheaded by the prolific Jonathan David, who netted the late winner in Tuesday’s 2-1 friendly victory over Panama.

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  12Belgium ↔

  Belgium went into Euro 2024 uneaten under Domenico Tedesco but, after a humiliating loss to Slovakia in their opening game, their campaign only descended further into farce, with Kevin De Bruyne even turning his back on the nation’s fans for expressing their disgust with the team’s dreadful lack of ambition in their final group game against Ukraine.

  De Bruyne has decided to play on and impressed in the Nations League win over Israel in Hungary, but he cut a bitterly frustrated figure during and after the tame loss to France in Lyon. It, thus, came as no surprise to see him ask to be left out of the squad for the October internationals.

  Belgium showed plenty of heart in coming from behind to draw with Italy in Rome but their comeback only came after their hosts had been reduced to 10 men and the subsequent loss to France in Brussels means the Red Devils have now lost half of their last eight games in all competitions.

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  11Croatia ⬆️

  We thought we’d seen the last of Luka Modric after Croatia’s devastating first-round elimination at the Euros, but the Real Madrid midfielder is still captaining his country and even got the only goal of the game in their Nations League win over Poland. However, the fact that Modric is still such an influential figure is worrying. Too many members of the squad are 30 or over, and there is a serious dearth of young talent in attack.

  Of course, Croatia remain one of the international game’s great overachievers and they’re still nicely placed to make the Nations League qualifiers – despite blowing a 3-1 lead in Poland on Tuesday night. Nonetheless, coach Zlatko Dalic, who has been at the helm since 2017, really needs to rejuvenate his side if they are to have any chance of arriving in North America with any chance of replicating their stunning third-place finish in Qatar.

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  10Netherlands ⬇️

  Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands remain a difficult side to work out. They were very fortunate to get out of their group at Euro 2024, but undeniably improved as the tournament went on and ended up reaching the semi-finals, where they were narrowly beaten by England.

  However, consistency is clearly an issue for the Dutch, who have gone three games without a win since kicking off their Nations League campaign with a 5-2 demolition of Bosnia and Herzegovina – and were beaten with worrying ease by Germany on Monday night. There is serious talent in the squad – Xavi Simons and Cody Gakpo proved that during the summer, while Ryan Gravenberch’s revival as a No.6 at Liverpool has come as a timely boost.

  However, serious doubts remain over whether Joshua Zirkzee is the answer to their search for a world-class No.9, while they clearly need both a worthy partner and long-term successor to centre-back Virgil van Dijk, who was sent off in last week’s 1-1 draw with Hungary.

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  9Brazil ⬆️

  Dorival Junior was left looking a little foolish after claiming that Brazil will reach the final of the 2026 World Cup only to see his side lose to Paraguay just a few days later – a result and, perhaps more importantly, performance that illustrated just how far the Selecao have fallen over the past few years.

  Still, Brazil have managed to build up a bit of momentum in their qualifying campaign by recording back-to-back wins over the two weakest teams in CONMEBOL, Chile and Peru. Consequently, the five-time world champions are now up to fourth in the standings – and level on points with third-placed Uruguay.

  However, while Dorival is not short on quality – he’s got Vinicius Jr, Endrick, Rodrygo, Raphinha and Savio competing for places in attack – serious doubts remain over a coach and a group that underwhelmed horribly at the Copa America.

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  8Portugal ⬇️

  There is no end in sight to ‘The Cristiano Ronaldo Show’, with the five-time Ballon d’Or winner making it abundantly clear that he has no intention of retiring from international football even though it was made painfully obvious during the Euros that he can no longer cut it at the very highest level.

  When one considers that Portugal boss Roberto Martinez doesn’t have it in him to drop Ronaldo for the good of the team, it’s now inevitable that the Seleccao’s World Cup hopes will once again hinge upon the form and fitness of an egomaniac who will be 41 when the tournament rolls around.

  Indeed, three goals in the Nations League wins over Croatia, Scotland and Poland will have only strengthened Ronaldo’s resolve to continue leading his country for another two years, while younger and more mobile forwards such as Diogo Jota are forced to play second fiddle to the superstar striker.

  Seriously, what was the point of starting Ronaldo again in Tuesday night’s draw with the Scots at Hampden Park? Is Martinez trying to build a squad capable of winning the World Cup or just helping Ronaldo reach 1000 career goals?

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  7Colombia ⬇️

  Nestor Lorenzo has done an extraordinary job since taking charge of Colombia in June 2022, leading los Cafeteros to the final of this summer’s Copa America, where they were only beaten in extra time by Lionel Scaloni’s all-conquering Argentina.

  Key to the remarkable revival has been the form of captain James Rodriguez, who is playing probably his best football since the 2014 World Cup, but Luis Diaz is also on fire at the moment, while 20-year-old striker Jhon Duran is showing why he’s so highly rated by Aston Villa.

  Colombia did suffer a shock loss to Bolivia in World Cup qualifying but the game was staged in El Alto – always an incredibly tough place to go because of the altitude. They did bounce back by beating Chile 4-0 to strengthen their grip on second spot in the standings, three points above Uruguay and only three behind Argentina.

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  6France ⬆️

  France remain No.2 in FIFA’s world rankings, thanks in no small part to the fact that they reached the semi-finals at Euro 2024. However, Les Bleus played absolutely atrocious football in Germany, with Didier Deschamps failing miserably to get the most out of the magnificent group of players at his disposal.

  The pressure on the ex-Chelsea midfielder only intensified, then, after a shock 3-1 loss at home to Italy in their fixture after the Euros but Deschamps is nothing if not resilient and he’s since led his nation to three consecutive victories, beating Belgium home and away, either side of a 4-1 defeat of Israel.

  Even more impressively, the last two wins came without ‘injured’ star forward Kylian Mbappe, with the likes of Randal Kolo Muani, Christopher Nkunku and Bradley Barcola suggesting that France might not be as reliant as their captain as previously thought – which is a real positive given Antoine Griezmann’s recent retirement.

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  5Italy ⬆️

  Italy have failed to qualify for the last two World Cups and were utterly humiliated at Euro 2024, beaten with embarrassing ease by Switzerland in the last 16 after scraping into the knockout stage with a last-minute equaliser against Croatia.

  However, defender Riccardo Calafiori says that the Azzurri are already a very different team to the one that flopped in Germany – and he’s got a point. For all the strange decisions Luciano Spalletti made during the Euros, he remains an excellent coach and he’s belatedly getting a tune out of a side that was left in a state of shock following Roberto Mancini’s shock resignation in August 2023.

  Italy kicked off their Nations League campaign with a hugely impressive 3-1 win over France in Paris and followed it up with a 2-1 defeat of Israel to take early control of their group. They did blow a two-goal lead against Belgium because of Lorenzo Pellegrini’s stupid red card but bounced back by routing Israel to confirm their revival.

that was more one-sided than the final scoreline suggests.

Pochettino has a well-earned reputation for improving players and he’s now set for a stern examination of his skills, given Christian Pulisic is the one truly top talent in a squad that suffered an embarrassing group-stage exit at the Copa America.

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  4England ⬇️

  Statistically speaking, Gareth Southgate was England’s most successful manager since Sir Alf Ramsey, but he failed to end the most infamous trophy drought in international football, with the Three Lions once again coming up short at Euro 2024, where they were outclassed in the final by Spain.

  The feeling all along was that Southgate’s conservatism prevented him from getting the best out of an incredibly talented crop of players and the early signs were that things could be very different under interim boss Lee Carsley, who emerged as the clear favourite to take over on a permanent basis after impressive wins over Republic of Ireland and Finland.

  However, Carsley effectively ruled himself out of the running after a gung-ho team selection resulted in a disastrous defeat at home to Greece, which prompted the Football Association (FA) to hire Thomas Tuchel instead. The German has a track record of success at club level and worked well with Harry Kane at Bayern Munich last season but he’s also a very divisive character, and there are also concerns that his nationality could be an issue for certain sections of the English media and fan base.
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  3Germany ⬆️

  Germany’s Euro 2024 clash with Spain probably should have been the final, with the two best teams in the tournament playing out an absorbing and high-quality quarter-final encounter in Stuttgart that La Roja only edged thanks to a 119th-minute winner from Mikel Merino.

  Julian Nagelsmann’s side were understandably devastated by the nature of that defeat, but their performance against the eventual winners showed just how far they’d come under the former Bayern Munich boss, who took over a team in turmoil following Hansi Flick’s dismissal in September 2023.

  Germany have obviously lost the hugely influential Toni Kroos to retirement but they’ve still got the multi-talented Joshua Kimmich leading a squad that contains two potential superstars in Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz. Nagelsmann’s side have also continued to build momentum in the Nations League, securing qualification for the quarter-finals with two games to spare thanks to a 1-0 victory over Netherlands in Munich in which debutant Jamie Leweling proved decisive.

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  2Argentina ⬇️

  Will he or won’t he? Lionel Messi could have retired after leading Argentina to World Cup glory in 2022 with his magical, Diego Maradona-like performances in Qatar but, because he was still having so much fun with the Albiceleste, he stuck around to win another Copa America.

  The question now is whether he will continue until 2026. It’s a real possibility, as he’s top scorer in the CONMEBOL qualifying group, which they presently top, and the No.10 was unquestionably missed in his country’s loss to Colombia last month.

  However, Argentina’s Messidependencia is worrying. The GOAT is 37 now and even accounting for Tuesday’s hat-trick against Bolivia, he’s clearly not as explosive as he once was. It’s clearly time for Lionel Scaloni to come up with a contingency plan and the hope is that Lautaro Martinez and Julian Alvarez will have developed into a lethal front two by the time the next World Cup comes around. If they do, Argentina will be well-placed to defend their title, given they’ve plenty of quality elsewhere, particularly in midfield.

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  1Spain ⬆️

  Spain were most worthy winners of Euro 2024, with Luis de la Fuente shaking off early doubts over his elite-level credentials by putting together a wonderfully balanced team that was excellent offensively and dogged defensively.

  Consequently, La Roja were able to make light of their lack of a prolific No.9 (though captain Alvaro Morata did lead the line diligently in Germany) and a world-class goalkeeper to beat all-comers thanks to the security offered by the resurgent Aymeric Laporte and Marc Cucurella in defence, the majesty of Rodri and Fabian Ruiz in midfield, and the skill and pace of Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal out wide.

  De la Fuente could still do with a reliable goal-scorer emerging over the next couple of years – Morata is 31 – but Spain just seem to be going from strength to strength. They’ve not lost a game for more than 18 months and have already qualified for the Nations League quarter-finals by taking 10 points from four games against Serbia (home and away), Switzerland and Denmark.