On Friday, the official draws for the 2026 edition of the World Cup were set, and the two teams in the previous championship game got very different results.
This week, the first major step toward next year’s highly anticipated World Cup across North America occurred when soccer fans around the world found out which group their national team will be competing in. The group stage of the iconic tournament can play a major role in a run to a World Cup title, and every team is hoping for a little luck.
Well, it seems that defending champions Argentina had a good bit of it on Friday. “Algeria know their way around the field — they were neat and tidy in qualifying — but if Lionel Messi and Co. intend to retain the World Cup, they should be competently brushing the Algerians, Austria, and Jordan aside,” The Athletic’s soccer insider Phil Hay claimed in a Saturday morning Newsletter from the outlet.
However, he doesn’t feel the same way about Argentina’s opponent in last year’s World Cup Final, France. “France and Kylian Mbappe got properly ambushed,” he wrote. “Erling Haaland makes Norway a genuine threat, and Senegal’s qualifying campaign was a doddle.”
USMNT got a favorable 2026 World Cup draw
Fans in the United States are hoping that a tournament in a familiar setting can give the USMNT a massive boost and take them on their deepest World Cup run ever. The farthest they have gone was the semifinals all the way back in 1930.
So did the USMNT get a favorable draw when it comes to the groups in 2026? It seems Hay thinks the US has a great chance of getting out of the group stage next year.
“We won’t know the fourth member of Group D until the UEFA playoffs conclude in four months. The worst (and most likely) case is that Turkey completes the section, and they have the potential to be better than their current form,” Hay wrote.
“But a hypothetical group containing Paraguay, Australia, and Turkey is one the USMNT can handle. We’re not talking about international football’s elite. So all in all, I’d rank it at six out of 10. Maybe seven at a push.”
