The United States, one of the hosts of the 2026 World Cup, was drawn in a group with Paraguay, Australia and a team yet to be defined, all of whom they have recently faced with positive results.
Top seeded in Group D, the United States will open their World Cup against Paraguay, with whom they played a friendly match last November 15 with a 2-1 victory with goals by Gio Reyna and Folarin Balogun. Their second opponent will be Australia, with whom they also played a friendly match, in this case on October 14, also with a 2-1 win and a brace by Haji Wright.
“Every game in the World Cup will be a final.”
Dona y cambia vidas
Tu donativo brinda terapias, esperanza y un futuro sin límites a niños con discapacidad. Haz la diferencia hoy.
The playoffs in March will give the United States its final opponent, with Turkey, Romania, Slovakia and Kosovo rounding out the group stage.
The United States will open and close the group at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Los Angeles.
The match against Australia will be played at Seattle’s Lumen Field.
If Mauricio Pochettino’s men live up to expectations and advance from the group stage as group leaders, they will face a third-place finisher from groups B, E, F, I or J in the Round of 16.
For Pochettino, however, thinking beyond the group stage would be a mistake.
“We have to focus on the group stage, we can’t waste energy on what comes after that.”
“All the energy should be on what we will do in the first game and making sure we get through to the next round,” he said.
“If you’re Argentina, maybe you can afford a little bit beyond the group stage, but with the U.S., every game has to be a final.”
“That’s the mentality we want to build,” added the Argentine coach.
Paraguay and Australia, not to be trusted
Pochettino also spoke about the recent matches against Australia and Paraguay, and urged not to be complacent about the victories.
“These two games will be a good reference for us, but the reality is that circumstances are going to change.”
“They will be a good reference for us, but also for them,” Pochettino told a press conference in Washington at the conclusion of the draw.
“Just because we beat them now doesn’t mean we’ll beat them in six or seven months,” warned the Argentine, who has constantly changed his starting XI in warm-up matches.
He also referred to the Belgium and Portugal friendlies in March, which will be litmus tests for the United States.
“Portugal and Belgium, very powerful teams, which are going to give us the reality of where we are and we have to take them as World Cup matches,” he said.
With information from EFE
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