USA World Cup draw 2026: USMNT group results, schedule, roster, coach and more to know

The United States will open the 2026 FIFA World Cup as hosts and Pot 1 favorites in Group D, after Saturday’s draw paired Mauricio Pochettino’s side with Australia (FIFA No. 26), Paraguay (No. 39) and the eventual winner of the UEFA playoff path between Turkey and Kosovo.

For a program that has never beaten a non-CONCACAF opponent in a World Cup knockout match, the path out of the group stage looks as inviting as geography allows. The pairing keeps the U.S. away from heavyweights such as Brazil, France and Argentina until at least the quarterfinals, and gives the Americans two lower-ranked opponents from Pots 2 and 3 plus the perceived softest of the four European playoff entries.

The favorable slate is critical for a federation that fired Gregg Berhalter following a 2024 Copa America group-stage exit and invested a record sum to lure Pochettino from club football. The Argentine, hired in the aftermath of that failure, has spent the past 18 months auditioning players and tinkering with formations, settling only this fall on a 3-4-2-1 shape in possession that morphs into a 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 without the ball. Results have been uneven—losses to Mexico, no trophies in the 2024-25 CONCACAF Nations League or 2025 Gold Cup—but the coaching staff believes the experimentation has clarified roles ahead of the sport’s biggest stage.

Christian Pulisic remains the headline name, flanked by a supporting cast U.S. Soccer calls the most talented in program history: Chris Richards, Weston McKennie and Antonee Robinson headline a depth chart that will be trimmed to 26 players next summer. Because the U.S. qualified automatically as co-hosts alongside Canada and Mexico, Pochettino used every FIFA window to blood newcomers rather than navigate high-stakes qualifiers, leaving the final roster decisions among the most scrutinized in American soccer history.

History sets the bar. The Americans have played in 11 previous World Cups, winning their group in 1930 and 2010 and finishing second on three other occasions. Their modern-era high-water mark remains the 2002 quarterfinal run that ended with a 1-0 loss to eventual finalist Germany. No U.S. men’s side has reached the semifinals since that inaugural 1930 tournament, contested in a 13-team, invitation-only field.

Group-stage venues for the United States will be announced when FIFA releases the full schedule, but with matches spread across 16 North American cities, the hosts are expected to play at least twice on home soil before any potential knockout fixture. Ticket demand is already record-setting; resale platforms reported six-figure queues within minutes of the draw conclusion.

Pochettino, in his first international post after stints at Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, called the draw “a starting point, not a finish line,” reminding players that past American teams have still never advanced past the quarterfinals of a 32-or-48-team field. “We have the talent to change that narrative,” he told reporters, “but talent without cohesion is just potential.”

The U.S. will open Group D play in June 2026, exact dates pending the finalization of the 48-team schedule. Should they top the group, the Round of 32 would pit them against a third-placed team from either Group E, F or G—another draw that, on paper, offers a navigable route toward the benchmark every American squad is measured against: a quarterfinal berth, and perhaps the elusive knockout victory over a non-CONCACAF foe that has eluded the program for nearly a century.

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