The arrival of Mauricio Pochettino might be the best thing to happen to the USMNT. That too, after what they’ve endured over the past few months. Aside from the 2024 Copa América upset, the Stars and Stripes had an unconvincing September-friendly window, which unfortunately led to a drop in their FIFA rankings. However, this doesn’t sit well with Charlie Davies, who seems to have ‘lost‘ his mind over it.

To give you a context, the US dropped two places to 18th and sits behind 17th-placed Mexico. The reason you ask? Well, aside from the Copa America drama, a recent 2-1 loss against Canada and a 1-1 draw vs New Zealand is to blame for their downfall in the world rankings. Surely, Davies wouldn’t let it slide easily, as he seems to have a bone to pick with FIFA.

“FIFA, help me, help you!” said the former striker in the CBS Sports Golazo America’s Call It What You Want podcast. “What in the world are you doing? We lose to Canada and we draw against New Zealand and you think just losing two places is fair? On top of that, Mexico’s whack. Mexico makes us look good. They make us look like Brazil. I’ve lost my mind with that one.”

Calling the FIFA rankings a ‘Whack‘, fellow co-host and former US defender, Jimmy Conrad, also expressed his displeasure. “I still have some issues with that,” he said, questioning the soccer’s apex authority as to why Belgium is still placed sixth. De Rode Duivels have won just four out of nine games this year, all of which came against the likes of Montenegro, Luxembourg, Israel, and a UEFA EURO clash against Romania.

Not to forget that Belgium won just one out of four games in this year’s European tournament. “I know they’ve got talent on paper, but you still got to go out there and actually do something with that talent. It’s unreal,” added Conrad. Yet, the former defender did praise fellow rivals Canada for moving two spots up and securing the 38th rank. Jesse Marsch and Co. also managed to overtake Nigeria in the process. Then again, the slamming kept coming.

FIFA continues to get slandered over USMNT’s world rankings

Jimmy Conrad further highlighted that New Zealand is ranked 95th as they dropped just one place. This again didn’t settle in the eyes of Charlie Davies, who didn’t hesitate to take a sarcastic dig over the FIFA rankings. “Oh, well done, Kiwis. We tied the 95th team and they didn’t move up, they went down and we only dropped two places,” he added.

In retrospect, the Kiwis had also lost 3-0 to Mexico, before drawing against the USMNT. Either way, one can do nothing but raise more questions about the criteria for how the FIFA rankings are constructed. Perhaps the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino may see the American boys turn things around in the upcoming friendlies with a decent scoreline.