FIFA confirmed that the USMNT will be in pot 1 at the World Cup draw, and will avoid a number of top opponents in their group. Pots 2, 3 and 4 could yet be tricky, though, with a handful of teams that they have lost to in the previous year in the fold. The draw will be held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on Friday December 5.
New seeding system set to benefit USA
The USMNT are ranked No.14 in the world, and will get a leg up from the new draw system. All of the teams other than Canada and Mexico are ahead of them in the FIFA rankings. Thanks to their seeding, it is unlikely that the U.S. will meet any top sides such as Argentina, Spain, France and England until at least the round of 16 – assuming that most heavyweights win their group.
This method of seeding players is used in tennis, in a way which has led to several heavyweight final clashes between the current top two players in the world.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportWorld Cup draw nears as U.S. pathway will soon become clear
While smaller nations will, perhaps rightly, claim that this new seeding system undermines sporting integrity by favouring the world’s most successful nations, a counter-argument would be the fact that all of the top four seeds still need to reach the semi-finals and could no doubt still face a difficult path in order to get there.
With 10 days to go until the draw on December 5, the USMNT face a nervous wait to find out who they will face in the group stage of the competition. The likes of Scotland, Norway, Croatia or Italy (if they get through the play-offs) could potentially be on the cards for Mauricio Pochettino's side – as can Colombia, Croatia or highly rated Morocco.
Match locations and kick-off times will then be announced the following day on December 6, as the tournament begins to come more clearly into view.
'This will ensure' – FIFA issue statement on seeding pathway decision
A FIFA statement said: "While the final draw will determine which teams play each other in the group stage, the updated match schedule, including the stadium assigned to each match and the respective kick-off time, will be confirmed on Saturday, 6 December.
"The match allocation process that follows the draw aims to ensure the best possible conditions for all teams while, where possible, enabling fans all over the world to watch their teams play live across different time zones.
"To ensure competitive balance, two separate pathways to the semi-finals have been established when developing the match schedule. In order to have a balanced distribution of the teams, the four highest-ranked teams … will have the following constraints: the highest-ranked team [Spain] and the second highest-ranked team [Argentina] will be randomly drawn into opposite pathways, and the same principle will apply to the third [France] and fourth [England] highest-ranked teams.
"This will ensure that, should they win their groups, the two highest-ranked teams will not meet before the final."
AFP2026 World Cup comes ever nearer for the USMNT
Recent results have looked good for Pochettino's side as they move towards the World Cup. The U.S. are on a five-game undefeated run, and ended their last camp with wins over Paraguay and Uruguay.
They will have one more international window in March – in which the U.S. will face Portugal and Belgium in Atlanta – before playing a duo of tune-up games for the tournament in the weeks before kick off. They will find out their group opponents next Friday, with the draw scheduled to start in the afternoon and the times released shortly after.