2018 fifA World Cup: round of 16 Power rankings

The group stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup is in the books, and that means the field has been halved. Gone are the feel-good stories of Iceland, Peru and Panama. Gone are all five African nations. Gone are the defending champions, Germany. Now, after one of the more memorable first rounds in recent history, the World Cup is turned up a notch for the 16 teams remaining: win or go home. In a must-win match, anything can happen and sometimes what teams accomplished in their first three games is of little consequence. But those contests have given us a better look at how the remaining nations stack up. Here’s how we rank the last 16 of the 2018 FIFA World Cup on the eve of the knockout stage. 1) Uruguay Group stage record: 3-0-0 Pre-tournament FIFA ranking: 14 2) Croatia Group stage record: 3-0-0 Pre-tournament FIFA ranking: 20 3) Brazil Group stage record: 2-1-0 Pre-tournament FIFA ranking: 2 4) France Group stage record: 2-1-0 Pre-tournament FIFA ranking: 7 5) Belgium Group stage record: 3-0-0 Pre-tournament FIFA ranking: 3 6) England Group stage record: 2-0-1 Pre-tournament FIFA ranking: 12 7) Spain Group stage record: 1-2-0 Pre-tournament FIFA ranking: 10 8) Portugal Group stage record: 1-2-0 Pre-tournament FIFA ranking: 4 9) Colombia Group stage record: 2-0-1 Pre-tournament FIFA ranking: 16 10) Switzerland Group stage record: 1-2-0 Pre-tournament FIFA ranking: 6 11) Sweden Group stage record: 2-0-1 Pre-tournament FIFA ranking: 24 12) Mexico Group stage record: 2-0-1 Pre-tournament FIFA ranking: 15 13) Argentina Group stage record: 1-1-1 Pre-tournament FIFA ranking: 5 14) Russia Group stage record: 2-0-1 Pre-tournament FIFA ranking: 70 15) Denmark Group stage record: 1-2-0 Pre-tournament FIFA ranking: 12 16) Japan Group stage record: 1-1-1 Pre-tournament FIFA ranking: 61