Aug. 25 (UPI) -- The United States slipped to No. 3 in world, their lowest placement in FIFA women's soccer rankings history, the soccer governing body announced Friday morning. The drop follows a disappointing World Cup finish.
Sweden, who eliminated the Americans in the Round of 16, climbed from No. 3 to No. 1. Spain, who beat England in the final Sunday in Sydney, jumped from No. 6 to No. 2.
Veteran U.S. forward and polarizing activist Megan Rapinoe recently told The Atlantic that she expected the Americans to go deeper in the tournament, but wasn't "devastated" by the result.
"Was there a little bit more in the tournament for us? Yes, I think so," Rapinoe said. "But in the end, I think we played as good as we could, and we tried as hard as we could, and sometimes you lose. It's hard to win everything.
"That's part of life, and that's a beautiful part of sport to me. I don't look at it as this devastating thing and a verdict on who we are as players or as a team."
England and France round out the Top 5 teams in the new rankings. No. 6 Germany, the No. 7 Netherlands, No. 8 Japan, No. 9 Brazil and No. 10 Canada are the other teams inside the Top 10.
South Africa, who started the tournmament at No. 54 and advanced to the Round of 16, moved inside the Top 50 (No. 45). Morocco, who started at No. 72 before a Round of 16 exit, climbed to No. 58. Fellow Round of 16 team Nigeria climbed from No. 40 to No. 32.
The Americans lost the top spot in the rankings for the first time since June 2017. They fell outside the Top 2 for the first time since 2003, when the rankings started.
The U.S women's team, who won back-to-back World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019, didn't finish worse than third place in their previous eight tournament appearances. They scored just four times in four games at the tournament. Their Round of 16 loss resulted in their earliest exit in the history of the Women's World Cup.
The loss also led to the resignation of Vlatko Andonovski and continued criticism of player performance under the manager.
"When a coach comes in, it's like, hey, how do we get the best out of every single individual player putting the most simplicity into a 10-day camp every few months and getting the best out of your team, and without overcomplicating everything?" U.S. midfielder Lindsey Horan told former teammates Tobin Heath and Christen Press this week on the Recap YouTube show.
"I could talk about the last four-year cycle, and we don't need to get into every single thing, but that's not what we did. We did not get the best out of every single individual. I don't think everyone was fully prepared, and that's on us as well."
The U.S. women will face South Africa in an international friendly Sept. 21 at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati. They will face the South Africans again three days later in Chicago.
