Chile's national team fell one place in the FIFA ranking released on Wednesday and now sits in 50th place, right on the cutoff for the world top 50. With 1,458.97 points, la Roja (Chile's national team) ranks eighth among the ten teams of Conmebol (South American Football Confederation).
According to La Tercera, the drop came despite a 2-0 win over Mexico at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. That victory, with goals from Maximiliano Gutiérrez and Vicente Pizarro, closed a North American tour that brought more defeats than joy.
Nicolás Córdova's team, which he has led as interim coach for 15 months, played three friendlies in a window that merged the September and October dates. In Toronto it lost 1-0 to Canada and finished with nine players after Lucas Cepeda and Gabriel Suazo were sent off. It then fell 4-2 to the United States in St. Louis.
The tally was one win and two defeats, a 33.3% success rate. That record weighed more in the calculation than the win over a top-level opponent: Mexico is tenth in the ranking.
The hardest news comes from the region. Venezuela, which dropped two places, ended up 49th with 1,465.87 points, just 6.90 points ahead of Chile. According to BioBioChile, it is the first time the Vinotinto has ranked ahead of la Roja in this classification.
In South America, Chile is ahead only of Peru (53rd) and Bolivia (78th). Peru, coached by Brazilian Mano Menezes, played four friendlies in the window without a win, with a single draw against Mexico, and fell three places.
Argentina, second in the world, leads the regional table, followed by Brazil (6th), Colombia (11th), Uruguay (20th), Ecuador (24th) and Paraguay (33rd). Globally, Spain holds first place with 2,011.57 points and a 42-match unbeaten run. France completes the podium, and Portugal pushed Brazil out of fifth place.
La Roja also ranks behind teams such as Mali (47th), Panama (46th), DR Congo (40th), Wales (39th) and Russia (35th), the last of which is banned by FIFA and UEFA over the war in Ukraine.
The next test comes in November, with two confirmed friendlies against Colombia: the first in Cali and the second at the Estadio Nacional.
