(Issue with Turkey fixed on previous page)
10. Italy - Between 2015 and 2021, one could make an argument that Italy was, consistently, one of the top three teams on the planet on any given day, and their failing to collect any hardware for their troubles remains one of the great tragedies of the recent sport, with second-place finishes at the 2016 World Cup and 2018 UEFA Euros, followed by bronze at the 2019 Confederations Cup. Crashing out early at both the 2020 World Cup and 2022 Euros suggested that the reign was coming to an end, however, and now Italy is faced with the horrifying tragedy of the death of star winger Daniele Paolini last month in a car accident in Milan at the age of 27, ending prematurely one of the most exciting careers in world football since he burst onto the scene as the Best Young Player at France '16. Ciro Immobile remains an absolute stud as both team captain and now the all-time scoring leader, but he will badly miss Paolini's creativity and speed on the right next summer, and despite it not being the fault of the Azzurri, the loss of Paolini compels us to move them down quite a ways from where they could otherwise have ranked.
9. Brazil - The old joke in South America goes that Brazil and disappointment are synonyms in football, and unless Brazil is hosting the World Cup, that seems to largely hold true. Despite a wealth of talent over the last decade, and the comfort which Neymar, Richarlison and Vinicius Junior have together at the front, Brazil placed first in qualifying by only three points ahead of Argentina and then looked utterly lost in both the semifinals and third-place matches at the Confederations Cup, suffering their worst loss to Britain in history in dropping a 5-0 contest at Wembley where they coughed off four goals in the first half having already been beaten decisively by United States. There is tremendous talent in this group, no doubt about it, but Brazil has traditionally had shaky performances in Europe specifically - they have not advanced out of the group stage at a European World Cup since Italy '92 - and the atrocious knockout round display this past summer suggests that these issues have not been entirely resolved by the Selecao.
8. Spain - Spain's 2024 qualifying campaign went well but for a team that is looking ruefully at Netherlands and declaring publicly that Britain '24 is the "revenge tour" for their loss at home in Euro '22, it needed a little more pop, and this is definitely not the golden generation of the 2010-12 era. Nonetheless, Marco Asensio, Isco and Alvaro Morata have put together an excellent body of work as teammates and proven their capabilities as the key of the attack, though missing Borja Mayoral and Pedri for much of qualification hurt this team quite a bit. As such, due to the injury question and Spain's ho-hum start to the "revenge tour," they belong in the bottom half of the top ten, though this is certainly a group that should be thought to perform well when the time comes next summer.
7. Portugal - While it seems unlikely that Cristiano Ronaldo will join Portugal at Britain '24 - the longtime captain and scoring leader will be 39 and his play has dropped off dramatically in the last nine years thanks to a variety of debilitating injuries starting with his torn ACL at Euro 2014 - Portugal may indeed not need him. The triad of Bruno Fernandes, Andre Silva and Bernardo Silva have been excellent for this group over the past year, helping Portugal forget their nightmare performance at the last World Cup and look like potential champions for the first time in history. Qualifying has also seen the young Joao Felix emerge as a reliable option as well, and indeed scored a goal in each of the last three qualifiers. This is a group with a wealth of talent to choose from and a reliable backline; it would not be an exaggeration to say that twenty years after the "golden generation" and ten years after Ronaldo's prime, this may be Portugal's most talented group ever taken to a World Cup.
6. Argentina - Argentina had a regular-time draw in the offing and hopes for a penalty kick miracle at Mexico '20 before Chicharito's 88th minute strike drove a dagger through their hearts, and while this group is arguably more balanced thanks to the emergence of players like Enzo Fernandez, Lorenzo Martines, and most importantly goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, the Albiceleste are still a team dependent on their ability to score through Angel Correa, Angel Di Maria, Paolo Dybala andLionel Messi. The issue, of course, is that Di Maria is unlikely to be selected for the team next summer, and while its unlikely Messi is dropped if he wants to play, he will turn 37 at the tournament and has looked very mortal since turning thirty. Argentina's reliance on older scorers may be its downfall; but the talent in backline and in midfield will support the aging core as well as it can, and despite falling painfully short against Brazil in the Copa America in 2022 on penalties, this group has more experience and skill to make a deep run.
5. Hungary - A shocking inclusion this high, considering that they are not in the first pot and placed second in their qualifying group? Perhaps, but also perhaps not. Jozsef Szabo remains the world's most electric player, having two Ballons d'Or in as many years and having proved through qualifying as well as club play why he is regarded as the most exciting young player in the sport. He is supported by one of Europe's best defenders in Milan Skriniar and paired up top with Robert Mak, with the midfield triad of Adam Nagy, Dominik Szoboszlai and Zsolt Kalmar anchoring the 4-4-2 formation that has been utterly deadly since it burst onto the scene at Euro '22 and managed to fight its way to fourth place. This team is now older, more experienced, and has played longer together as a core, and lethal striker substitute Robert Sallai should be back from repeated injuries by this summer. The Mighty Magyars are still coming together as a team; when they do, watch out.
4. France - Speaking of teams that can ruefully look at the 2015-21 era and wonder how they don't have a championship is France, but France has the advantage over Italy of being A) younger, B) more talented and C) having not embarrassed itself in the last two major tournaments, indeed collecting yet another bronze medal at Euro '22. The "Bronze Generation" epithet is an unpopular one with Les Bleus but after the European Cup run of Paris this past year, signs are pointing to a group that has gelled well together and looks ready to make a deep run across the Channel. Captain Olivier Giroud remains an ageless talent (there's a lot of those headed to Britain) but he has excellent young support across the board, especially with the emergence of Florian Thauvin as Antoine Griezmann's favored strike partner up top. France is amongst the favorites of the tournament and another semifinal run is a bare minimum expectation; the stars are certainly aligned for this group to make a last hurrah and get that second star they've waited a hundred and eight years for, though.
3. USA - Plain and simple, this is probably the best USA team ever fielded, powered by the right leg of Andrew Luck and a defense and midfield emerging into its own. In the last year, Lonnie Walker, Tyler Adams and Dante DiVicenzo have emerged as one of the most fearsome groups in the world, and Christian Pulisic remains a reliable option alongside Luck to score from the right. Set aside that USA's best performances have come in the Americas - bronze medals at Argentina '88 and Mexico '20, silver at Mexico '60, and of course the lone championship on home soil in 2008 - and consider that USA has only lost one game in the last calendar year, that being to Netherlands in a penalty shootout heartbreaker this past July at the Confederations Cup. Spain may have the "revenge tour," but it is USA that has some of the best players in the world finally playing together consistently at the same time, and this generation is unlikely to accept just taking another bronze when they could join Argentina as the only Western Hemispheric sides to win a championship in Europe.
2. Britain - It has been forty-four years since Britain, the birthplace of the sport, won a World Cup, now beating the 1924-64 drought between the Lions’ first and second championships. That this makes Britain supporters anxious is of course no secret, made worse by talented sides in 1992, 2000 and especially 2008 failing to win when they arguably could have or should have been the favorites. What makes Britain No.2 on our list, then? The record of hosts since 1988, for starters; only three times (1996, 2012, 2016) has the World Cup host failed to raise the trophy, and two of those hosts were Japan and China, not exactly heartlands of the game. Britain has only once lost a senior men’s tournament on home soil, at that - and that was this summer’s Confederations Cup. Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Andy Robertson head the lineup but the talented generation of youngsters that won the 2017 U-17 and 2021 U-20 FIFA and UEFA titles are now integrated into the team, featuring names like Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, and Rhian Brewster. Hopefully, the bronze placement in July was just growing pains. This British side carries the hopes and dreams of a country, and there is every expectation that it is British hands holding up that trophy at holy Wembley.
1. Netherlands - What more needs be said? Who else to rank here? The last time the Oranje lost a match was against United States at the 2020 FIFA World Cup. They have taken full points in their last two qualification campaigns and won back-to-back Nations League titles, a feat not even achieved by the German dynasty of the 2010s. They are the defending European champions and punctuated that with brilliance at the Confederations Cup. They sport not one but two Ballon d’Or winners in Kevin de Bruyne and Virgil van Dijk, and one of the most exciting young talents in the world in Frenkie de Jong. They have been ranked No. 1 in the world for over two years, the longest such stretch since the conclusion of Germany’s run. And they are looking eerily familiar to the Spain side that won a Euro, a Confederations Cup, and a World Cup in that order. For a team that just six years ago looked adrift having missed both the 2016 World Cup and the 2018 Euros and was wasting the primes of de Bruyne and van Dijk, it’s been a remarkable turnaround, and it is time to fulfill that promise. It is title or bust in Amsterdam, and for good reason. Can they take that pressure, which has felled some many great Oranje teams before? Time will tell.
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