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France are the new leaders of FIFA's world rankings Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images Hello! It’s time for a fight about World Cup favourites. Who are you picking? Coming up: Watching France cut through Brazil and Colombia last week, there was no getting away from the thought they looked pretty slick. This is a nation who know how to win major titles and here they are again, peaking at the optimal moment. Advertisement They picked up the World Cup in 2018 and very nearly retained it in 2022. They won the European Championship at the start of this century and reached the final again in 2016. Michael Cox recently argued that, in the modern era, very few international teams have shown more consistency. The French tend to be there or thereabouts. Right on cue, FIFA’s latest rankings shunted them into top spot yesterday, the first time France have held first place in eight years. I’d be wary of reading too much into this league table — Belgium were No 1 for the best part of four years between 2018 and 2022, without winning a thing — but it’s reasonable to ask: are Les Bleus favourites in North America this summer? The timing is nice for them (as per) because they’re laden with elite performers from front to back. The French contingent coming out of Paris Saint-Germain have never had it better there. Kylian Mbappe’s knee might be bothering him, but head coach Didier Deschamps picking him as captain in 2023 was more than a concession to the best player in his camp. Tom Williams has painted the picture of Mbappe running the dressing room with humour and authority, a natural in the role. France beat Brazil last Thursday with 10 men for most of the second half. They were far too proficient for Colombia on Sunday. These are friendlies and FIFA’s rankings are often skewed by results that don’t really count. But France climbing up ahead of Spain (second) and Argentina (third) is a reflection of where they’re at. Beat them at the 2026 finals and you’ll probably win the tournament yourself. Shortly before FIFA issued their new rankings, Nick Miller and Tim Spiers put themselves in harm’s way by ranking all 48 World Cup teams for us (this caused hell in the comments – feel free to shout at them, too). Neither of them can see past Spain, who, it should be said, have everything a top international team would look for. Advertisement But both their ratings and FIFA’s are fairly damning for the USMNT, who cannot get the knack of beating European opponents. Mauricio Pochettino’s side have dropped to 16th in FIFA’s metrics, and Tim and Nick have them way down in 23rd, which frankly reads like the more realistic gauge of where they’re at. Pochettino has reached the conclusion the U. S. squad is hampered by a total lack of world-class footballers. He’s not wrong, and that won’t change before June. France, in contrast, have Mbappe. They have Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele, assist-machine Michael Olise, and Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki (who used his box of tricks to give the Colombians the runaround). Italy at No 12 is a perfect example of why FIFA’s rankings should not be taken as gospel, but the French are No 1 for a reason. Spain signed off for the World Cup on Tuesday with a 0-0 draw against Egypt. They’ve got more friendlies to come before the finals begin, but the goalless game was their last appearance on home soil. The contest wasn’t much to write home about (Spain made nothing of lots of shots on goal), but it made headlines because of tasteless, anti-Muslim sentiment among the Spain crowd. More than once, chants of “Musulman el que no bote es” rang around Espanyol’s RCDE Stadium in Barcelona — “whoever does not jump is a Muslim”. It just so happens the most exceptional footballer in Spain’s squad (some would say anywhere) is himself a practising Muslim. Lamine Yamal duly picked up on the chanting — it was impossible to miss it — and called it out in a social media post. “To those who sing those chants: using religion as something to mock people in a football stadium leaves you as ignorant and racist people, ” he wrote. “Football is to enjoy and support, not to offend people. ” Quite so. Advertisement Spain, as you’ll know, is due to co-host the World Cup in 2030 with Morocco, a majority Muslim country, and Portugal. In light of the chaos seen at the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, the Spanish football federation president, Rafael Louzan, thinks his country is best placed to stage the final, too. FIFA might humbly suggest the RFEF gets its own house in order first. Chelsea Women’s Sonia Bompastor is under the cosh, and as head coach, she carries the can. But you’d need a heart of stone not to sympathise over the red card shown to her during their Champions League defeat to Arsenal last night. Chelsea were a few seconds from going out of the quarter-finals (losing 3-2 on aggregate) when Arsenal full-back Katie Mc Cabe halted a run by Chelsea’s USWNT forward Alyssa Thompson by grabbing Thompson’s ponytail and yanking it, as shown above. You might think a challenge like that deserved a red card, or at least a booking. You’d think wrong. It wasn’t given as a foul by the referee and VAR didn’t seem interested in reviewing it either, but the match official was alive to Bompastor’s complaints on the touchline, booking her twice and promptly sending her off. Bompastor was understandably livid, saying: “It’s not good enough. I’m the one who gets the red card, when I think it should be the Arsenal player who gets the red card”. We’ll keep eyes peeled to see if any retrospective action is coming the way of Mc Cabe, who claimed on social media afterwards that the hair pull was accidental. Regardless, she’ll be lucky if it isn’t. Selected games (kick-offs ET/UK time) UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-finals, second leg: Barcelona (6) vs Real Madrid (2), 12. 45pm/5. 45pm; OL Lyonnes (0) vs Wolfsburg (1), 3pm/8pm — both Paramount+/Disney+. Advertisement We’ve been waiting for an opportune window to bring you a funny from America’s USL Championship, where Orange County beat Oakland Roots 1-0 on Sunday. Oakland’s goalkeeper, Raphael Spiegel, went up for an added-time corner in desperate search of an equaliser and then slyly attempted to halt a counter-attack by grabbing a spare ball and launching it onto the pitch as Orange County pelted towards his empty net (you’ll see it appearing in shot, above). This referee had his eyes open — and sent Spiegel off. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Phil grew up near Edinburgh in Scotland and joined The Athletic in 2019 as its Leeds United writer. He is now lead writer of The Athletic FC newsletter. He previously worked for the Yorkshire Evening Post as its chief football writer. Follow Phil on Twitter @Phil Hay_