The Draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup has just finished and is as follows.
Group A: Mexico (15), South Korea (22), South Africa (61), Winner of Playoff D
Group B: Canada (27), Switzerland (17), Qatar (51), Winner of Playoff A
Group C: Brazil (5), Morocco (11), Scotland (42), Haiti (84)
Group D: USA (14), Australia (26), Paraguay (39), Winner of Playoff C
Group E: Germany (9), Ecuador (23), Ivory Coast (42), Curacao (82)
Group F: Netherlands (7), Japan (18), Tunisia (40), Winner of Playoff B
Group G: Belgium (8), Iran (20), Egypt (34), New Zealand (86)
Group H: Spain (1), Uruguay (16), Saudi Arabia (60), Cabo Verde (68)
Group I: France (3), Senegal (19), Norway (29), Winner of Playoff 2
Group J: Argentina (2), Austria (24), Algeria (35), Jordan (66)
Group K: Portugal (6), Colombia (13), Uzbekistan (50), Winner of Playoff 1
Group L: England (4), Croatia (10), Panama (30), Ghana (72)
Playoff A: winner of Wales (32) v Bosnia and Herzegovina (71) v winner of Italy (12) v Northern Ireland (69)
Playoff B: winner of Ukraine (28) v Sweden (43) v winner of Poland (31) v Albania (63)
Playoff C: winner of Slovakia (45) v Kosovo (80) v winner of Turkey (25) v Romania (47)
Playoff D: winner of Czechia (44) v Ireland (59) v winner of Denmark (21) v North Macedonia (65)
Playoff 1: winner of New Caledonia (149) v Jamaica (70) v Democratic Republic of the Congo (56)
Playoff 2: winner of Bolivia (76) v Suriname (123) v Iraq (58)
Comments
Group of Death Rankings (Mean FIFA Rankings)
1. Group F: 23.25
2. Group D: 26
3. Group B/I: 26.75
5. Group L: 29
Lowest Mean Ranking Group
Group E: 39
How do those rankings deal with the groups that have a playoff winner as team 4?
I added the highest ranked potential 4th team to the calculation.
This tournament also differs considerably from all previous WC iterations.
From the, now, 12 groups, the top 2 will advance to the knockout stages
The top 8 third-place finishers will, now, also advance to the knockout stages.
Scenarios for the USA are as follows:
Win Group: Play runner up Group F (Likely Japan)
Runner up: Play winner of Group F (Likely Netherlands)
Third Place: Depends on other 3rd place finishers, but could be Winner Group E (Germany), Winner Group I (France), Winner Group A (Mexico)
If the seeding holds and we win the group, we will get Belgium in the round of 16.
Scottish fans are having fun.
Here's your schedule for the USMNT:
Why are all the US group games on the West Coast? Should at least have one in KC.
The reason I heard was to minimize travel between games...you know, lip service.
US will still travel thousands of miles while teams like France travel 334 miles in group play.
I'm aware. Most of what comes out the US Federation is a joke.
The other side of me says if we want that limited travel, well, go win a world cup and become a real player in the landscape of international soccer...like France. (I feel like they've earned it.)
Honestly, with it being located in 3 countries and 4 times zones, this thing is huge nightmare. To top it off, they are tying to grow a single strain of Bermuda for use at ALL stadiums...north to south for the duration of the tournament. Let's see how that pans out. Some of the US pitches haven't been the best of late.
France literally gets the best draw every single time. This time it looked a slight bit tougher (when the group stage matters way less), but then I see a stat like this.
Oh and by the way the Fifa officials all got off on the corruption charges earlier this year. Not sure how I missed that story..
I'm not sure "FIFA officials get off on corruption charges" really qualifies as news. It's in the same category as "water is wet."
the ambiguity of the statement is....well, something
I thought when all that came out several years ago they were done for. It seemed like a really open and shut case (and explained why France and Switzerland always had the easiest draws among other things).
So finding that out today was surprising, but I guess not surprising given the overall state of the world
MON THE SCOTS!
We moved all US teams headquarters to Atlanta then have all our games on the west coast. I love soccer. But how we manage US soccer at all levels is a sick joke.
100000%. But I'm more than good with the team, while playing, being as FAR away from HQ as possible. Haha.
Tyler Adams with possible MCL strain/tear playing for club team.
He has become one of the perennially injured USMNT guys where if hes fit great but the trend is becoming more and more that he is just banged up alot of the time.
Chris Richards had to be stretchered off during Crystal Palace/Arsenal match.
Seriously. W. T. F.
Damn. Next man up.
This is soccer though right, so I expect this to be no worse than an ingrown toe nail?
I feel like it's usually ankle stuff. So probably an ugly twisted ankle that really hurt but he'll be back in a couple weeks.
Regardless of how the tournament goes, at least the US will finally look like US Soccer again.
The alternate kit has an interesting metallic star sublimation on them
But seriously, in the same sense that Brazil is yellow over royal blue, the US should absolutely be the red and white stripes on top and navy shorts going forward. Why we have ever gone away from that is just really stupid IMHO.
10000%.
I'm tired of the different versions of red and/or blue on our unis.
Hockey figures it out. No reason why we can't be red/white for home, like white for England, blue for Italy, yellow for Brazil, light blue for Argentina, red/gold for Spain, black/red/gold for Germany...
The blue is a little darker than I'd like, but can live with this with the sublimated stars.
But the red and white ones are fire.
I have always preferred the "Where's Waldo" jerseys.
anyone going to any games?
i am interested in some games in Atlanta, but tickets prices are really $$$. lowest i can find for morocco/haiti is about $350/ticket.
i didn't win the US Soccer lottery for the right to buy tickets...so now US Soccer wants me to join as a Premium member ($$), then i can pay to enter another lottery for the right to buy tickets. the whole process is nuts.
think i might settle for taking my son to see US/Senegal friendly in Charlotte in May.
Bunch of games here at Metlife this summer, tix are $$$$. My livenation guy said no shot at pulling any strings for face value tix, they are totally locked down
I'll probably look for other communal watch parties
I can buy a lot of pizza and wings for nearly every game with what they are trying to get for tickets. Oh, and beer too.
They are charging for the fan fest in the cities as well. Complete money grab all the way around. Can even imagine the parking charges at some places.
You could be drunk for a month on most of these ticket prices.
Absolutely. On very good stuff too.