Sampson Gets Call

Steve Sampson learned Tuesday he will coach the United States through the soccer World Cup, and the Americans found out they could draw a first-round group that might include Germany, England and Colombia.

Or the Americans could get lucky and draw Romania, Scotland and South Korea.

In seeding the teams for Thursday’s World Cup draw, the FIFA World Cup organizing committee determined the United States won’t have an African opponent in the first round. That means the United States could be in a very strong group or a very weak one.