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We're No. 19! USA jumps into top 20 of FIFA World Rankings for first time since 2011

The U.S. is No. 19 in the latest FIFA rankings.

Jonathan Daniel

It's been two long years, but the United States is back into the top 20 of the FIFA World Rankings. And this is important in no way whatsoever.

The U.S. was last in the top 20 in the March 2011 rankings, when they were also ranked No. 19. Now, thanks to a dominant June and a perfect Gold Cup, they are back up to No. 19.

The FIFA World Rankings are inherently flawed and, to be fair to FIFA, it is impossible to do rankings well because there just aren't enough matches to draw from. Either they have to use years old matches, and have flawed data, or they only have a handful of matches to use. When your option is bad data or not enough data, you're screwed.

Unfortunately, FIFA tries to make them relevant by using them to seed teams for the World Cup, but that is of no concern to the U.S. They have no chance of getting into the top eight of the rankings, nor should they, so a seed isn't anything they have to worry about.

So the U.S. is back in the top 20. Whoop-de-doo.

Oh, but they are ahead of Mexico. The Kings of CONCACAF indeed.

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