Predictably, the first FIFA World Rankings of 2015 offered up little change, with only 16 friendlies having been played since December’s installment.
Germany, Argentina and Colombia remain Nos. 1-3, respectively, in a top-10 that went unchanged. The USA remained at No. 27, while Costa Rica is once again the top CONCACAF team at 16th. Canada stayed at 112th.
Chile, the USMNT’s next opponent in a Jan. 28 friendly (5 pm ET; Fox Sports 1), came in unchanged at No. 14.
Bahrain made the biggest gain thanks to wins over Saudi Arabia and Jordan, moving up 12 places to 110th. The only teams to climb more than three places were Lebanon (up four to 122nd) and Vietnam (up four to 133rd), while the Faroe Islands achieved their highest-ever position of 103rd since the ranking was introduced in 1993.
The biggest fallers this month are Iraq (114th, down 11) and Jordan (93rd, down 12).
More movement is to be expected in the February edition of the world ranking, which will take into account all of the results from the CAF Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea and the AFC Asian Cup in Australia.
In all, 146 of the 209 teams did not move in the rankings.
