Are South American teams going to dominate at the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
Maybe not all of them, but it would not be surprising to see two of CONMEBOL’s best in the tournament’s semifinals. Here are my full power rankings with less than 100 days until the first game on June 11:
You know, you love them (or at least you know them; I love them): the USA. It’s not crazy to put USA here in the top-10. In the FIFA Rankings, the U.S. is at 15th, but again, this isn’t just a World Cup; it’s a home World Cup and I think that is relative to the fact that they are going to find some magic, being the host and playing in a home World Cup, more than our friends in the north, Canada, and our friends to south, Mexico.
It’s still Germany. This isn’t the greatest German team, but Germany and Germans: they find a way in big moments to be big, and I think they’re going to be big here.
Morocco, everybody’s darling over the past couple of cycles. Men, women, all ages — there’s something in the water over there and I think that will continue.
I often times have been much more bullish about the Brazilian team than my “State of the Union” my co-host David Mosse, although he’s coming around a little as of late.
We’re keeping an eye on Cristiano Ronaldo and a possible injury; who knows if that plays into it. We’ve talked so much about the depth that Roberto Martinez has at his disposal with this Portugal team but also the dynamic that he has to deal with in Cristiano Ronaldo.
I could have put England higher, but I put them at No. 5, and they should thank me because they don’t want any pressure. I do think they will wilt and fold under pressure, so I’m going to put them in at No. 5. Still, this a very good England team and you know it pains me to say that.
While this is a great Argentina team and they’re the defending champions, a repeat hasn’t been done since back in the 60s and I think it’s going to be very, very difficult to do.
Everybody’s darling, Colombia. They’re a great team and I do think that the South American teams will have an advantage playing in North America and specifically playing in the U.S. as we’ve seen before in the Copa América. I just feel like they’re comfortable and maybe more so than other teams. I think South America is going to have a big World Cup.
Now you’re getting to your usual suspects, your elite teams. You can interchange France and Spain, but I’m going to put France at second.
That means the aforementioned Spain comes in at No. 1. This is my power rankings. If you don’t like my power rankings, get your own.
