Where the USMNT stand as World Cup inches closer
Pro Soccer Wire’s Seth Vertelney breaks down the current state of the USMNT after a solid finish to an up and down 2025.
Sports Pulse
The United States men’s national team got a very favorable draw for next summer’s World Cup.
The Americans will play Paraguay, Australia and the winner of a European playoff in the tournament they are co-hosting with Canada and Mexico. They have winning records against both Paraguay and Australia, including 2-1 victories over both teams this fall.
“Everything that we know is very fresh,” USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino said on Fox after the draw was complete.
The toughest game the USMNT will have is that against the still-to-be-determined European opponent. The United States will play either Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo, and the USMNT will not know which one it will be for almost three months.
Turkey and Romania face off in one European qualifying playoff game and Slovakia and Kosovo in the other March 26. The winners advance to play each other for a World Cup spot on March 31.
The USMNT is 2-2-1 all-time against Turkey, including a 2-1 loss in June. It has losing records against both Romania and Slovakia, and has never played Kosovo.
The top two teams in each World Cup group will advance to the knockout rounds, and the USMNT has to like its chances now.
It could have had to play Erling Haaland and Norway or Mohamed Salah and Egypt in the opener. For the second game, it dodged the likes of 2018 runner-up Croatia and Morocco. And potentially tough as a European opponent will be, the USMNT might already have locked up a place in the knockout rounds by then.
“We need to be optimistic,” Pochettino said. “… Believing that we can go through but we need to perform.”
The real challenge will come in the knockout rounds. Should the Americans win the group and their Round of 32 game, they could face Belgium in the Round of 16. That’s where the Red Devils eliminated the Americans in the 2014 World Cup.
Should they get through that, it’s likely to be either Spain, Argentina, Portugal or England that awaits.
USMNT World Cup Group D schedule
- June 12: USA vs. Paraguay – SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California
- June 19: USA vs. Australia – Lumen Field, Seattle
- June 25: USA vs. Turkey/Romania/Slovakia/Kosovo – SoFi Stadium
