The November 2019 FIFA Rankings dropped on Thursday, and while the US men's national team got a small bump, the latest results dealt a blow to Canada's World Cup qualifying hopes.
Following the latest round of Concacaf Nations League play, which saw the US run away 4-1 winners over the Canadians before beating Cuba 4-0, the team climbed one place to 22nd in the world and second in the Concacaf region.
However, Canada's heavy loss to their southern rivals led them to drop four places to 73rd. More consequentially, that result, combined with El Savlador's rise to 69th after a pair of Nations League victories, saw Canada fall to seventh among Concacaf nations. That has a significant bearing on the CanMNT's World Cup qualifying path, as the top six countries in the region in the June 2020 FIFA rankings will qualify for the Hexagonal — a round-robin tournament that awards three direct berths in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Meanwhile, the winner of a tournament among the remaining Concacaf entrants will play against the fourth-placed team in the Hex for a place in an intercontinental playoff that will award one further spot in the World Cup.
Canada will have chances to improve their ranking in the March and June 2020 international windows. However, after failing to qualify for the Nations League final stage, there will be no opportunity for competitive matches and the FIFA ranking system places a lower value on results in friendly matches.
Elsewhere in the November rankings, Mexico comfortably remained the best team in Concacaf with an 11th-place ranking. Belgium remained the No. 1 team in the world, followed by France and Brazil. There was no movement in or out of the top 10 and very little movement within it, with only Croatia climbing above Portugal into sixth place.
