The United States men’s team are better than Mexico as of April 2025… according to FIFA. In the latest April FIFA rankings the USMNT remain the 16th best team in the world with Mexico one spot behind.
April FIFA rankings has USMNT above Mexico
Yeah, we’re going to call BS on this one FIFA. The U.S. had a miserable March international window losing 1-0 to Panama in the Concacaf Nations League semifinals and then falling 2-1 to Canada in the third-place game.
Meanwhile Mexico defeated Canada and Panama to claim their first-ever Nations League title.
We have a hypothesis as to why the U.S. didn’t drop in the rankings. It doesn’t appear FIFA counted the Concacaf Nations League games?
A look at FIFA’s site shows the incorrect results for March’s Nations League games with all four of the USMNT, Panama, Mexico and Canada receiving one draw for the Nations League. The scores are also missing.
This could explain why the USA gained 3.33 points in the rankings despite the fact they lost back-to-back games to Concacaf opponents for the first time in six years.
FIFA’s rankings have never made sense and the latest edition only exacerbates the issue. To be completely honest I only ever write about FIFA’s rankings because they generate controversy and discussion.
Some fans turn a blind eye toward FIFA’s rankings and instead prefer Elo Ratings. Elo uses a different formula than FIFA and is also used by the international chess federation to accurately rate chess players.
Elo’s latest world rating put the USMNT in a sobering 41st place. One spot behind Panama. Meanwhile Mexico lead Concacaf at 23rd in the world, per Elo.
The next opportunity for the USMNT to redeem themselves will be this summer with two friendlies in June against Turkey and Switzerland plus the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup.
