10 Lowest-Ranked Teams At The 2018 World Cup
1. Russia (70)
Yes, the host nation of this summer's tournament are actually the lowest-ranked side of them all. This is technically only Russia's fourth World Cup appearance, but the Soviet Union side appeared at many World Cups in the past. In recent years, Russia failed to get out of their groups at the 1994, 2002, and 2014 World Cups and will be desperate to reach the knockout stages on home soil.
The team has really struggled in recent fixtures, winning just 1 of their last 10 games, but can hold out some hope of qualifying from Group A, being pitted against Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Uruguay. They might struggle against Luis Suarez and co, but can realistically expect to achieve good results in their other two group games.
Key players for Russia include their excellent goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, as well as talented midfielders Alan Dzagoev and Aleksandr Golovin. Goalscoring duties will mostly likely fall at the feet of Artem Dzyuba and Fyodor Smolov, but the Russians aren't known for scoring a lot, and will need to be solid defensively to enjoy any success this summer.