May 07--The United States dropped one spot, to 28th place, in the FIFA world rankings released Thursday.
The fall comes despite a 2-0 win over Mexico in the U.S. team's last game, largely because Russia picked up 47 points in the poll, jumping up five spots and elbowing its way past the Americans and into 27th place in the standings.
The top 17 spots in the rankings remained unchanged with World Cup winner Germany at No. 1 followed by Argentina, the team it beat in last summer's final.
Belgium, Colombia, Brazil, the Netherlands, Portugal, Uruguay, Switzerland and Spain round out the top 10.
Costa Rica, at No. 15, is the highest-ranked CONCACAF team, seven spots ahead of Mexico, which fell four places to No. 22 -- the most dramatic fall among the top 74 teams
At 21st place, Wales achieved its highest ranking ever.
The rankings are determined by a mathematical formula with points being awarded based on the results of all FIFA-recognized matches during the last four years, with more recent results and more significant matches being more heavily weighted to help reflect the current competitive state of a team.
The top 30:
1. Germany
2. Argentina
3. Belgium
4. Colombia
5. Brazil
6. The Netherlands
7. Portugal
8. Uruguay
9. Switzerland
10. Spain
11. France
12. Romania
13. Italy
14. England
15. Costa Rica
16. Chile
17. Croatia
18. Czech Republic
19. Slovakia
20. Algeria
21. Wales
22. Mexico
23. Ivory Coast
24. Greece
25. Austria
26. Ghana
27. Russia
28. USA
29. Denmark
30. Scotland
