The USA will begin the 2026 World Cup against Paraguay as part of what initially appears to be a favorable draw for the hosts. Mauricio Pochettino's side will also take on Australia and the winners of one of the four European playoffs to secure a spot at the tournament, either Turkiye, Romania, Slovakia and Kosovo.
The draw meant that the hosts, who have never gone further than the quarterfinalists, avoided big threats such as Norway, Italy and Uruguay and although Pochettino will doubtless insist on the difficulty of the task ahead of him in public, he would surely acknowledge in private that it could have been a lot worse. They could have got a draw like France's, for instance, the 2018 winners drawn against Erling Haaland's Norway, and 2021 African champions Senegal. England and Brazil were also among the big seeds handed tricky assignments.
Meanwhile the other hosts will probably be similarly happy with their lot. Mexico will begin the tournament against South Africa before facing off against Korea Republic and one of Denmark, North Macedonia, Czechia or the Republic of Ireland. Canada too were afforded one of the UEFA playoff teams and could find themselves up against Italy if the Azzurri overcome Northern Ireland, Wales and Bosnia. Switzerland and Qatar round off Group B.
Holders Argentina will face Austria, Algeria and Jordan and will have their eyes firmly set on top spot. The same will be true of Spain, the top side in FIFA's world rankings, who have been handed ties with Uruguay, Saudi Arabia and Cabo Verde. Should Argentina and Spain top their groups then they would be unable to face each other until the World Cup final.
The fixture scheduling will be confirmed on Saturday December 6 from 12 p.m. ET.
Scroll down for the groups in full and reaction from the draw as it happened:
There you are. You can see it all resplendent in its glory above. There'll be plenty more to come in the minutes, hours and days ahead but I think we all need at least a moment now after all of... that.
It had to be a European team and the USA avoided the worst potential selection of them (the one with Italy) and landed with probably one of the more favorable. It'll be one of Turkiye/Romania/Slovakia/Kosovo. The pressure really is on for Mauricio Pochettino, that's a group they should aim to top.
Group E you're a toughie but right now Group I with Mbappe, Haaland and Nicolas Jackson is looking pretty rough indeed. Meanwhile Group C, I've got my eye on you with space for a European side.
They're back together just like they were in 1998. Indeed this is three-quarters of Group A from France 1998, my personal World Cup as any tournament must be for an eight year old! At least Scotland, Brazil and Morocco don't have to worry about Norway joining them.
Paraguay. Drawn for Group C, they cannot find themselves in the same quartet as Brazil so they jump along one. Ivory Coast do too. As for the USMNT though, look that's looking pretty decent, isn't it?
There are factors now. Many, many factors. Remember there can only be two teams from Europe in any group. From every other confederation it's one and done. This will get more complex as we go but keep an eye on the groups in full above.
And Mexico's opener is confirmed, the tournament's too. June 11 at the Azteca, Mexico vs. South Africa.
England will open up their World Cup against Croatia in a repeat of the 2018 semifinal. That's one of a string of big games from a pot where the USA will feel really rather happy given that they've got probably the weakest team in the field, Australia. This part of the draw really is rattling along. If only that approach had been taken with the previous 90 minutes.
Two champions, two of the best teams in their respective pots, the final game of the group. That is pretty intriguing. And Shaq follows that up with a rerun of the 2002 opener, France vs. Senegal.
Australia! I mean, you probably wouldn't complain about that if you're Mauricio Pochettino.
We're about to find out the US' first opponent... but it won't be Morocco. The 2022 semifinalists are drawn with Brazil, who they will play first!
Mexico vs. Korea Republic. That won't be Mexico's first game. It will be a good one though!
Now is where the fun starts. Watch out for Morocco and Japan folks. If I might editorialise a bit, those are the teams you really don't want.
Plenty of travel and potentially hot days for the Germans, who will be playing in hot cities such as Houston and Kansas City while still potentially travelling to Toronto. Meanwhile France will find themselves predominantly playing on the east coast. Nowhere is going to be too cool then but at least bouncing around East Rutherford, Foxborough, Philadelphia and Toronto doesn't put too many miles in the legs.
England, meanwhile, will be among the teams who are very happy with their group. Win it and they'll get a third place team.
Keep an eye on our pinned post where I'll be dropping in the draw in full! Brazil are first out and they go into Group C.
It can't go on like this, can it? It can (mickmccarthy.gif). We're legitimately approaching a full 90 minutes and Heidi Klum has "one more surprise."
Oh thank heavens. It might actually be that we're getting to a proper draw. Here come four sporting greats: Shaquille O'Neal, Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky and Aaron Judge. They will be in charge of the four pots. They're even standing over them. Just a tiny, tiny, bit of the smallest of talk. Then, maybe, we can go.
Oh no... Rio's forgotten his pen.
The conductor of the draw takes the stage as we finally, finally, finally inch towards some football matches being scheduled. And if the latest "it's football, not soccer" bit is anything to go on, we can trust Ferdinand to lead this draw with all the charisma and verve of a smashed pane of glass.
We're not talking about these skits. We simply are not.
And it's a medley I'd very much be enjoying most of the time, it's just a bit incongruous hearing Lauryn Hill's hype guy shouting "FIFA make some noise". Hill is customarily masterful of proceedings, it's just that the proceedings are not taking balls out of pots, twisting those balls, extracting the scrap of paper and reading it out. Please. I beg. No more Carli Lloyd interludes. Just fixture scheduling.
Now that is never a bad thing. Never at all. We are, however, overrunning at such a rate that by the time we're done we'll probably have that follow up to Miseducation.
There's always that little frisson of fear that this might go wrong but Prime Minister Carney successfully draws Canada into B1. Mexico and the USA follow. We're up and running.
Of course the games will be dropping thick and fast but if you've got a ticket or simply no plans this summer, you'll have to wait a little while longer to find out who is playing when. FIFA has confirmed that the fixture list will be unveiled on Saturday at 12 p.m. ET. The governing body said:
Unveiled by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who will be joined on stage by FIFA Legends, and in the audience, by representatives of all 42 qualified teams as well as those still in contention, the reveal show promises to be one of the most significant moments on the road to 2026. Throughout the show, expert insights and reactions will be offered, breaking down the match-ups, analysing key storylines and providing perspectives on the host venues that will welcome the world in June and July next year.
"You can clap because this is the last time you will see me on stage," he says. Don't tempt me with a good time chief.
He now brings out "three great draw assistants". They are the Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney, the President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum and the President of the USA Donald Trump.
Before today I didn't know it was possible to be both irritatingly obsequious and inappropriately chaotic.
A relatively brief speech from Trump, welcomed with gushing praise from Infantino.
"This is truly one of the great honors of my life," he says. Trump goes on to note conflicts that have been ended and tension between India and Pakistan, which he says was ended before it started.
"You're going to have an event the likes of which the world has never seen," he says of the World Cup. "The coordination, friendship and relationship [with co-hosts Mexico and Canada] has been fantastic. I want to thank everybody. The world is a safer place now. A year ago the United States wasn't doing too well. Now we're one of the hottest countries. I'd like to keep it that way."
President Donald J. Trump is the winner of the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize "for his exceptional actions taken across the world". Four US marines are on hand to deliver the trophy itself, four hands reaching up to a globe. Infantino returns to stage to welcome President Trump.
Now I'm seeing why the CBS Sports editors had me on the blog. I am the only person on staff who knows Robbie Williams, probably the biggest British pop star of the last 30 years. And if there's one thing more famous than Angels, it's the fact that Robbie Williams never made it in America. And still, he's on stage performing by some distance the worst thing I've ever heard him perform. And he performed this.
Meanwhile in the work slack...
Infantino has the Americans in the crowd chanting "USA! USA!" Then it's time for the Canadians to chant "Canada! Canada! Canada!". So surely by then the poor Mexicans must know what's coming. I really cannot believe what I'm watching here. This is a guy who really needs to beef up his material in time for the Riyadh comedy festival.
"Hello," he says. "I didn't hear you," he adds in pursuit of greater applause. This, for those of you unaware, is Gianni Infaninto, president of FIFA, who he refers to as "the official happiness provider for humanity since over 100 years". Tell that to the Dutch.
Infantino welcomes the heads of state of the US, Mexico and Canada, who are on hand for the draw. Of course this is a mere prelude to what the FIFA president terms "the greatest event that mankind has ever seen and will ever see". So I suppose hopes are not particularly high for the centenary tournament then?
Nessun Dorma. The World Cup anthem, particularly if you're a Brit who happens to have even the vaguest memory of Italia 90. Or perhaps you were like me and your parents got very into Pavarotti after that particular World Cup and your earliest childhood memories seem to involve the big guy. That's the joy of the World Cup. It gets tied up in all your childhood memories. I can still see Cafu's cross deflecting in off Tommy Boyd.
Between that and memories of Claudio Ranieri crying on the pitch as his Leicester City title winners were serenaded by this man himself, we're getting all the flashbacks here.
I think. Look I'll square with you, out here in the UK we've still got the UK Championships of the snooker on the BBC. Neil Robertson's just beaten Pang Junxu. That was a good match that. Anyway, yes, World Cup. Any minute now.
We have Pardeep Cattry and Chuck Booth at the Kennedy Center, just about. By all accounts it has been pretty arduous getting into the draw with tales of an hour to 90 minutes waiting in the D.C. snow. On this side of the Atlantic, I've just turned the central heating up. Might get a fire going and maybe crack open a non-alcoholic beer. Make an evening of it, y'know.
