USMNT finishes 2014 at No. 27 in FIFA World Rankings

The United States will go into 2015 ranked No. 27 in the world. The December FIFA World Rankings, which are the final ones of the year, saw the Americans jump up one spots to 27, which looks good, but it's a staggering 13 places lower than where they were at the start of the year.

The Americans were No. 14 at the beginning of 2014 and even got as high as 13, but they fell all the way to 28 by November. This month they made some of that back this month, thanks to the Ivory Coast's loss to South Africa that sent them down. Still the drop does show how much the U.S. struggled on the year.

As great as it was to see the U.S. escape the Group of Death at the World Cup, they only won one match and drew one in four matches there. In total, the U.S. went 6-5-4 on the year, which isn't bad considering the high level of competition, but it;s hardly sterling.

Elsewhere, Costa Rica remained the highest ranked CONCACAF team at No. 16. Mexico is second in the confederation at No. 20, with the U.S. third. Trinidad and Tobago is fourth, but they are way down at No. 55. The top 10 was unchanged.

Next year, the U.S. has a brutal schedule lined up that will see them play top ranked Germany, No. 5 Netherlands, No. 12 Switzerland No. 13 Chile, No. 20 Mexico and No. 32 Denmark, not to mention a reported match against No. 6 Brazil. That is all on top of the Gold Cup and only covers the first nine months of 2015.

FIFA World rankings

1. Germany
2. Argentina
3. Colombia
4. Belgium
5. Netherlands
6. Brazil
7. Portugal
8. France
9. Spain
10. Uruguay
...
16. Costa Rica
...
20. Mexico
...
27. USA