So which country comes out on top of our utilitarian ranking? Nigeria, which advanced out of group play Wednesday. Nigeria finishes fourth in our passion ranking, and is one of the poorest countries in the tournament. Separating it from the rest of the African countries in the World Cup is its huge population — 174 million people. Simply put, the Nigerians have a lot of very passionate, low-income people who are ready to celebrate Nigerian success. Nigeria finishes with a far higher score than any other country.

After Nigeria come Brazil, Mexico, and Ghana — all countries with large populations and plenty of passion for the game. Brazil and Mexico have advanced to the second round, while Ghana must beat Portugal on Thursday; hope for the United States to lose to Germany; and then prevail via one of the tiebreakers.

And how does the United States do? The good news is that we don’t finish last. We do finish last in fan passion. Along with Japan, South Korea and Australia, we are one of only four World Cup nations where soccer is not the most-searched sport. But we’re helped out by our big population and, over all, finish slightly ahead of Australia.