Yes I should have softened that slightly by saying one of the weakest. All a bit moot as we are going to be in Pot D for the draw, however which way you analyse it. And again there is going to be no one qualifying as weak as Malaysia let alone the OFC bunch.
The FIFA rankings have their limitations, but using them as a guide, we will likely be the lowest ranked team in North America in 2 years
AWs ranked 95th. 2026 WC qualification -
CAF 9 teams qualify direct - they have 21 teams FIFA ranked higher than us.
Congo DR who were drew with are their 10th best ranked team at 58. The Gambia who were beat 2-0 are their 40th best ranked team at 135
Based off that Congo result (they were pretty full strength from memory), yes there could be a few CAF qualifiers at the WC, at our level. Maybe 2-3 of their 9 qualifiers.
CONCACAF 3 teams extra to the 3 hosts qualify direct - they have 7 teams extra to the 3 hosts (so 10 in total), FIFA ranked higher than us. Costa Rica who we unluckily lost to are their 5th best ranked team at 50. Curacao who were beat 2-1 are their 10th best ranked team at 88
Panama (37th) & Costa Rica (50th) will likely get 2 of the 3 CONCACAF spots. The 3rd team someone of Jamaica (61st), Honduras (77th), El Salvador (80th) etc. And yeah they are probably about our level.
https://inside.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/men
The FIFA rankings have their limitations, but using them as a guide, we will likely be the lowest ranked team in North America in 2 years
AWs ranked 95th. 2026 WC qualification -
CAF 9 teams qualify direct - they have 21 teams FIFA ranked higher than us.
Congo DR who were drew with are their 10th best ranked team at 58. The Gambia who were beat 2-0 are their 40th best ranked team at 135
Based off that Congo result (they were pretty full strength from memory), yes there could be a few CAF qualifiers at the WC, at our level. Maybe 2-3 of their 9 qualifiers.
CONCACAF 3 teams extra to the 3 hosts qualify direct - they have 7 teams extra to the 3 hosts (so 10 in total), FIFA ranked higher than us. Costa Rica who we unluckily lost to are their 5th best ranked team at 50. Curacao who were beat 2-1 are their 10th best ranked team at 88
Panama (37th) & Costa Rica (50th) will likely get 2 of the 3 CONCACAF spots. The 3rd team someone of Jamaica (61st), Honduras (77th), El Salvador (80th) etc. And yeah they are probably about our level.
https://inside.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/men