Amid a week in which the U.S. women’s national team confronted consecutive losses for the first time in over five years, all while its players reel from and deal with the fallout of investigations into NWSL, there was a reprieve.
FIFA unveiled its latest women’s world ranking on Thursday, and even after defeats to England and Spain, the U.S. remains the top-ranked team in the world. With that comes a place in the seeded pot of the 2023 Women’s World Cup draw later this month, which contains the top six teams in the world and co-hosts Australia and New Zealand.
If there’s a north star for the U.S. to follow, it’s that friendly results don’t really mean much in the long run (well, save for Spain’s win, which vaulted La Roja just above Canada for the all-important No. 6 ranking and a place in the top pot), and that, until proven otherwise in meaningful, knockout matches on the World Cup stage, the notion that more of Europe is catching up and that the U.S. is due to come down a peg remains theoretical.
