USMNT Group, Opponents Revealed For 2026 World Cup

The US Men's National Team knows its path for the World Cup next summer. Well, mostly.

The United States will face Paraguay, Australia and the winner of UEFA Playoff Path C, consisting of Turkiye, Romania, Slovakia and Kosovo in Group D at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It's a very favorable draw for the Americans, who had the advantage of being a Pot 1 team by virtue of hosting the competition.

The United States, ranked 14th in the world, avoided the likes of Morocco (ranked 11th) in Pot 2, Norway (29th ranked) in Pot 3 and the winner of UEFA Playoff Path A, which includes 12th ranked Italy. 

Mauricio Pochettino and his squad should be familiar with its opponents in Group D, having played both Paraguay (ranked 39th) and Australia (ranked 26th) within the last two months. The Americans were able to defeat Australia 2-1 on Oct. 14 before they took Paraguay by the same score line in the following FIFA international window on Nov. 15. Both friendlies were raucous and chippy affairs that, despite the U.S. seeming the better side, could have gone either way.

Additionally, the U.S. played potential Group D opponent Turkiye (ranked 25th) to a 2-1 defeat in preparation for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup back in early June, although without many of its strongest players. 

Turkiye appears to be the favorite to advance out of the four-team, two-match playoff in Path C. They will have to do it on the road, though, as Slovakia (ranked 45th) drew the rights to host the semifinal matches and potentially the final. 

Slovakia will face Kosovo (ranked 80th) in the first semifinal and Turkiye will play Romania (ranked 47th) on the other side of the bracket. If Kosovo advances, it would host the final in Pristina rather than in Bratislava, Slovakia. 

Should Romania qualify, it would set up a rematch of the 1994 World Cup group stage match against the U.S. in which the Romanians beat the Americans 1-0 in front of over 90,000 fans at the Rose Bowl. The two national teams have not faced each other since.

At the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Dec. 5, groups were drawn for the 2026 FIFA World Cup during a live spectacle broadcast to hundreds of millions around the world.

Emceed by celebrities Kevin Hart, Heidi Klum and Danny Ramirez, the event was an embarrassing amalgamation of cringe and absurd political propaganda that could only be only be organized by the likes of FIFA president Gianni Infantino and the Donald Trump administration. 

Andrea Boccelli, Robbie Williams, Nicole Scherzinger, Lauryn Hill and the Village People made up the star-studded list of performers (in addition to Rio Ferdinand's sketch comedy, of course) during the course of the event. It would be nearly an hour and a half before the first ball was drawn, but after (among other things) several musical performances, dozens of poorly landing jokes, and a ridiculous award ceremony in which President Trump won the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize, the draw began.

Despite the internationally broadcast humiliation of FIFA and the United States of America, the U.S. men's national team can rest easy knowing they won't be facing any major world footballing power until the knockout round at the earliest (should they get there). Going into 2026 with a good run of form, the Yanks have very reason to display confidence ahead of the tournament.

Acknowledging this, the U.S. men have never had a World Cup match that wasn't difficult. Even if they might be Group D favorites, they can expect to have their work cut out for them every step of the way.

The United States will first face Paraguay in Los Angeles on June 12, followed by Australia in Seattle on June 19. Then, the Americans will round out Group D play against the UEFA Playoff Path C winner on June 25 once more in the city of Angels.