The Socceroos, whose World Cup heroics gave Australian football an injection of hope before the violence at AAMI Park knocked it back, are set to reach their highest point in the FIFA men’s world rankings in more than a decade.
Key points:
The Socceroos are set to jump 11 places, from 38th to 27th in the FIFA world rankings
They also achieved their highest ranking at a World Cup, judged 11th after their round-of-16 exit
Brazil will remain number one on the men’s rankings despite a quarter-final exit
Graham Arnold’s side, which won two matches in Qatar to reach the last 16 and gave eventual champions Argentina a fright with a late surge, will climb 11 places to 27th in the rankings.
It is their best placing since being 25th in September 2012 under Holger Osieck.
Along with surprise semi-finalist Morocco, Australia will be this month’s biggest climbers.
And while the Socceroos’ performance ended in heartbreak against Argentina, it gave them their highest World Cup ranking of 11th from 32 teams in the final standings after winning two matches at the tournament for the first time.
Wins over Tunisia and 10th-ranked Denmark were sandwiched between a tournament-opening 4-1 thrashing by defending champions France and a tight 2-1 loss to champions Argentina.
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