World Cup: Power Rankings after first group games

Last Result: L 0-1 vs. Serbia

Next Game: FRI vs. Brazil (Saint Petersburg)

Keylor Navas conceded only a free kick. That’s how Costa Rica lost. The offense generated nothing until Joel Campbell came on as a sub. Campbell was an important piece to Los Ticos attack in 2014 and he must start against Brazil to keep Costa Rica alive. The sleepers from 2014 have awoken to reality.

Last Results: L 0-1 vs. Uruguay and L 1-3 vs. Russia

Next Game: MON vs. Saudi Arabia (Volgograd)

Egypt was very bad without Salah against Uruguay. They had no offense while their defense was lucky Luis Suarez was having an uncharacteristically off day. Even with Mo Salah playing against Russia in a loss, Egypt will go down even more in the next power rankings. Those rankings will actually take into account the 3-1 loss to Russia.

Last Results: W 5-0 vs. Saudi Arabia and W 3-1 vs. Egypt

Next Game: MON vs. Uruguay (Samara)

Russia will certainly be moving up further in the next rankings after the Egypt win. They move up two spots here because they won in the most dominating fashion a host has ever won a game. Denis Cheryshev and Alexander Golovin were exceptional and Artem Dzuyba brought back his old form against Saudi Arabia. The hosts are hyped and on fire.

Last Result: W 1-0 vs. Costa Rica

Next Game: FRI vs. Switzerland (Kaliningrad)

The midfield of Serbia was dominant, the defense was strong, and Alexander Kolarov’s free-kick was a thing of beauty. Serbia hops up to 21st because they beat a higher caliber opponent than Russia. Another hard-tackling performance in midfield from Serbia could lead to a win over Switzerland, which would securely see them through to the knockout stage.

Last Result: L 0-2 vs. Croatia

Next Game: FRI vs. Iceland (Volgograd)

Nigeria’s talent is great. They stay above Serbia and Russia due to the potential they have against Iceland. However, they could not solve Croatia and had zero quality chances all game. They plummet six spots and are the easy pick to not advance from Group D.

Last Result: L 0-1 vs. Denmark

Next Game: THU vs. France (Ekaterinburg)

Los Incas were running all over the field in the first-half and aggressively taking shots outside the box. They had a golden chance to take the lead with a penalty. Instead of going into the tunnel up 1-0, it was 0-0 after a moon shot by Christian Cueva. Paolo Guerrero made the offense even better when he came on as a sub. They lost cause Kasper Schmeichel was playing like his dad and the missed penalty.

Last Result: D 1-1 vs. Argentina

Next Game: FRI vs. Nigeria (Volgograd)

Iceland is continuing to win over fans with their upsets. They drew against Portugal and beat England at the Euros. In their first World Cup game ever, they drew Argentina with another calculated and precise gameplan. Messi was surrounded and Hannes Halldorsson’s save will be remembered for centuries. The Vikings are so close to not being underdogs anymore.

Last Result: W 1-0 vs. Peru

Next Game: THU vs. Australia (Samara)

Christian Eriksen played well, but not amazing. Kasper Schmeichel took the mantle as Denmark’s leader against Peru and his six saves helped the Danish Dynamite to three points. The Danes do move down one spot though because the next team’s win was against a much better opponent.