The Round of 32 for the World Cup has been set and kicks off as early as Sunday evening. But which matchup is the highest-quality based on the world rankings, and which one features the biggest gap in ranking? Here’s an overview.
The group stage has just ended, and the knockout phase kicks off as early as Sunday evening. The first round of 16 match will feature co-host Canada against South Africa. It’s a clash between the No. 32 and No. 54 teams in the world rankings. With a 22-rank difference, this matchup falls in the lower middle of the pack among all 16 games.
The gap is just a tad wider in the German team’s first knockout match. The squad led by head coach Julian Nagelsmann advanced to the next round as the top team in Group E and is currently ranked 12th in the world. Germany is thus the clear favorite in the round of 32, while its opponent, Paraguay, is ranked only 37th in the world. Nevertheless, caution is of course warranted, and the final group stage match against Ecuador (ranked 24th in the world, a 1–2 loss) should have been warning enough.
Should the German team advance to the round of 16, a very tough opponent may await: In the round of 16, they could face France and its attacking stars Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembélé, and Kylian Mbappé. According to the world rankings, the Equipe Tricolore is currently the second-best team, while their opponent, Sweden, is ranked 36th (a difference of 34 places). The roles are thus clearly defined.
Argentina the Clear Favorite – Will the Oranje Show Their Best Against Morocco?
Incidentally, Argentina tops the world rankings, having stormed into the round of 16 with three wins and an outstanding Lionel Messi (already six World Cup goals, the new all-time World Cup leading scorer with 19 goals). There, the Albiceleste is the overwhelming favorite against World Cup newcomer Cape Verde (ranked 64th in the world). A 63-point gap is the largest among the last 16 matchups, followed by the game between Colombia (11th) and Ghana (65th).
The smallest gap is in the matchup between the Netherlands and Morocco. It’s a clash between two neighbors in the world rankings, with the seventh-ranked team facing the sixth. Looking at the average of their rankings, it stands at 6.5—the lowest of all matchups. The lower the average, the higher the quality of the match, based purely on the teams’ positions in the world rankings. Accordingly, we can expect a lot from the match between the Oranje and Morocco.
