The United States has been placed in Group D for next summer’s World Cup, where they will compete against Australia, Paraguay, and one of the teams from Turkey, Romania, Slovakia, or Kosovo.

On Friday, Mauricio Pochettino’s squad discovered their group opponents during a lively draw event in Washington DC, which featured appearances by President Trump, actor Matthew McConaughey, and the iconic band, the Village People.

The draw seems favorable for the host nation, providing them with a promising opportunity to progress to the knockout stages of the tournament.

“We need to respect all the opponents, and it is going to be challenging,” Pochettino expressed with caution during an interview on Fox Sports following the draw. “We believe in our ability to advance, but it requires us to perform at our best and improve continuously.”

Fox analyst Alexi Lalas pointed out to Pochettino that failing to advance from the group stage would be a “disaster” for the U.S. The coach responded, “The players need the freedom to perform. We must respect our opponents, but victories are only achieved by playing the game.”

Pochettino acknowledged the difficulty of their task, saying, “I understand your perspective, but my message to the players is clear: Paraguay and Australia will pose tough challenges. We must approach the first game as though it’s the World Cup final. Underestimating the challenge would be a grave error.”

The United States’ opening game will take place against Paraguay on June 12 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. A week later, Pochettino’s team will face Australia in Seattle before closing out the group stage back at SoFi on June 25.

USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino is pictured arriving at the 2026 World Cup draw

President Trump drew USA’s name out of the hat at the draw in Washington on Friday 

The US will soon discover the final member of Group D, with Turkey, Slovakia, Kosovo and Romania battling it out in a European playoff to win a place in the USA’s group.

Pochettino’s team is currently the No 14-ranked team in the world, with Australia No 26 and Paraguay No 39. Turkey (25) are the highest-ranked team in the playoff for Group D.

America has reached at least the last-16 stage at four of the past seven tournaments, including in 1994 when it last hosted the soccer showpiece. 

The United States is hosting next summer’s showpiece alongside Mexico and Canada and the road to glory was laid out on Friday.

One of the perks of hosting the tournament is that the US, Mexico and Canada were all in Pot 1 of Friday’s draw. 

That meant they couldn’t be drawn against the world’s top-ranked teams – Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

There are 12 groups of four teams in this expanded World Cup, which will feature 48 teams for the very first time.

Sporting legends including Brady, Wayne Gretzky, Aaron Judge, Shaquille O’Neal and Eli Manning were all part of the draw at DC’s John F. Kennedy Center.

The NFL’s greatest quarterback, Tom Brady, participated in the draw in Washington DC

Snow fell on the nation’s capital and, as expected, Trump was given a peace award by FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

The majority of the 104 games next summer – 78 – are being hosted in the US, with 13 each taking place in Canada and Mexico.

There are 16 host cities, including 11 in the US: Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Kansas City, Atlanta, Miami, Boston, Philadelphia and New York/New Jersey.

The tournament will kick off on June 11 in Mexico City, with the final taking place at MetLife Stadium – the home of the New York Jets and Giants – on July 19.