One week has passed and every country has played their first match in the 2014 World Cup, with the exception of Brazil and Mexico who played their second match on Tuesday afternoon.
Listed is a power ranking for all 32 teams in the tournament based on the first week of play. Every week it will be updated and I wouldn’t be surprised if Spain, Uruguay or England jump back into the top tier.
1. Germany
Honestly, no surprise here. The Germans came out strong against Portugal and never really gave them a chance. Ronaldo was invisible for most of the match and barely had any touches to the ball. The German defense completely shut down their opposition and Neuer, while barely tested, was very confident in net.
2. Netherlands
It’s hard not to be in the top two when you blow out the defending champions of the World Cup. I’m not sure what happened but once Robin van Persie scored his superman header goal to end the half, the Dutch began to look like a completely different team. They attacked over and over again and didn’t let Spain catch a breather. They proved their Tiki-Taka style of play has it flaws. Pressure.
3. France
Even without Franck Ribery this French team has a solid roster. Up against a poor opponent in Honduras they were expected to blow them out. They struggled a bit but ended up doing just that. Their defense didn’t allow Honduras to get anything going and Benzema lit up the match with his two goals and enforced own goal on Honduras’ keeper.
4. Italy
Italy performed really well against England in their first match of the World Cup. They dominated possession and outperformed the Three Lions. They held up their pressure until the end of the game and proved to viewers that their defense is one of the best.
5. Brazil
Brazil played quite poorly to begin their World Cup campaign against Croatia but brought the tempo back up a bit in the second half. Still, they could’ve done better, and the supposed favorites for the tournament have some work to do if they want to beat teams like Germany and the Netherlands.
6. Argentina
Lionel Messi finally played like Lionel Messi. Although Argentina was predicted to win by more than one, they still dominated the match and didn’t give Edin Dzeko much room to work with.
7. Belgium
Belgium got off to a slow start but their young and exciting squad picked it up in the second half. Fellaini played like Belgium national team Fellaini and not like Manchester United Fellaini, and scored a wonderful header off of Kevin De Bruyne’s cross.
8. Colombia
This offense doesn’t necessarily need Falcao to get out of the group, however, when they do get out, they’re in trouble. They didn’t miss Falcao too much in their first matchup against Greece, scoring three goals and conceding none.
9. Chile
They were up against an easy opponent but still showed complete dominance against Australia. Vidal provided quality passes and Alexis Sanchez lit up the wing. This Chile team is a dangerous one.
10. Mexico
Cheating a little bit here, but this Mexican side hasn’t conceded a goal in two games, one of which was against Brazil. Mexico was dangerous against Cameroon on the outside and through the middle and should’ve scored more than just a single goal. This is a dangerous Mexican side, especially with a fresh Chicharito coming off the bench to worry tired defenders.
11. Costa Rica
I guarantee you nobody predicted Costa Rica would beat Uruguay by two goals in their first match. Costa Rica doesn’t have much quality individually but they play well together as a team. They have great chemistry and sometimes that’s all it takes to upset a good team like Uruguay.
12. Ivory Coast
Old, but still good. An African team had to appear sometime on my power rankings. With Wilfried Bony and Gervinho playing up top, and Yaya Toure supporting them, defenses have a lot to worry about.
13. USA
The Stars and Stripes pulled off a dramatic win with a late header by John Brooks in the closing minutes of the match. They didn’t look good keeping possession, but their counter-attacks proved lethal. Their defense is young and inexperienced but has tremendous potential and should be even more solid for their next game against Portugal.
14. Switzerland
A dramatic goal was scored by Seferovic in the last second of injury time a 2-1 win over Ecuador. The Swiss played well, keeping lots of possession and taking more shots than expected. They seem like favorites to get the second spot in Group E.
15. England
They fought and fought, until the last 20 minutes, where they started to play English football. They were walking and barely pressing while being down. They were dangerous to begin the game but couldn’t seal it off.
16. Spain
Oh … They’ll be back … Once they bench Costa and play their false-9 formation … they’ll be back.
The Rest:
17. Uruguay
18. Croatia
19. Ghana
20. Portugal
21. Japan
22. Bosnia & Herzegovina
23. Ecuador
24. Russia
25. Algeria
26. Korea Republic
27. Greece
28. Cameroon
29. Australia
30. Nigeria
31. Iran
32. Honduras
