The Americans, who broke out of a three-way tie for sixth with Spain and Mexico despite dropping a point to 764 in Wednesday's latest poll, also moved ahead of France, which dropped to eighth.

The United States reached the quarterfinals at the 2002 World Cup finals and won the 2005 Gold Cup.

At the other end of the top 20, World Cup host Germany and European champion Greece dropped out.

Greece, which failed to qualify for this year's World Cup, dropped from 19th place to 21st with 704 points. Germany, which reached the final at the last World Cup and will host the next edition, had been tied with the Greeks but dropped to 22nd with 700 points.

Brazil remained at the top of the list with 835 points, two less than it had in February's rankings. The Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Argentina continue to occupy the next three spots.

The Czechs remain a distant second with 789 points, but that's only one more than the Netherlands. The Argentines also lead the United States by only one point.

Spain remained in sixth place, while Mexico dropped to seventh and France to eighth. England stayed ninth and Portugal remained in 10th.

Iran and Croatia were the teams that benefited from the drop at the bottom of the top 20, sharing 19th in place of Greece and Germany.

Also, Palestine moved up 17 places to 121st, its best-ever ranking.