It was a World Cup full of surprises, and second only to the jaw-dropping humiliation of hosts Brazil in their semi-final capitulation to the eventual winners Germany was the dismal performance by holders Spain, particularly their destruction by the rampant Dutch.
They lost that match 5-1 before also losing 2-0 to Chile, crashing out before they'd even played their third match of the tournament.
Well, the chickens are coming home to roost now, with the latest release of FIFA's rankings showing them dropping out of the top 10 for the first time since 2007.
Of course, no teams have played internationals in the last month, but as ranking points are calculated on a four-year period, some previous good performances have now been lost to the Spanish. There is limited movement in general, but Italy - who also had a dismal World Cup, crashing out with England in the groups - replace them in 10th and Romania move up to 14th, which should aid them with a possible seeding in July when European qualification groups are named for the 2018 World Cup.
England slip down a place to 17th, while Germany and Argentina still occupy the top dog places. Recent Africa Cup Of Nations champions Côte d'Ivoire are the top-ranked African team in 20th, four places ahead of their fellow finalists Ghana.
Completing the home nations are Wales in 37th, Scotland in 39th, Northern Ireland in 43rd and Republic of Ireland in 66th; the first three all handily placed in their European Championship Qualifying Groups, with those matches resuming at the end of this month.
Check out the top 20 in full below (positional movement in +/-)
1. Germany 1770
2. Argentina 1577
3. Colombia 1499
4. Belgium 1471
5. Netherlands 1415
6. Brazil 1348
7. Portugal 1191
8. France 1180
9. Uruguay 1164
10. Italy 1146 (+2)
11. Spain 1130 (-1)
12. Switzerland 1126 (-1)
13. Costa Rica 1095
14. Romania 1081 (+2)
15. Chile 1057 (-1)
16. Czech Republic 1045 (+1)
17. England 1031 (-2)
18. Algeria 986
19. Croatia 963
20. Côte d'Ivoire 944
(Image: Getty)
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