FIFA World Cup Draw: U.S. team likely to face Australia in Seattle
SEATTLE – Once the attempt at providing entertainment ended, the FIFA Men’s World Cup draw on Friday yielded mixed results for those eagerly awaiting the matches to be played in the Pacific Northwest.
The biggest headline is the expectation that the United States match played at Lumen Field on June 19 will be against Australia.
The official schedule won’t be set by FIFA until Saturday, but based on how the draw unfolded, the second game for the U.S. and scheduled to be in Seattle seems set to be against the Australians.
One of the other three group stage games being played here also seems set and will include Qatar against a European opponent from a group of four possible countries that includes Italy and Wales.
The full lineup for games in Seattle won’t be known until FIFA announces the finalized schedule Saturday. That unveiling will begin at 9 a.m. PT, and though Friday’s draw was a network TV broadcast, the schedule announcement will be streamed on FIFA.com and FIFA’s YouTube channel.
“We’re excited by anybody that’s coming through,” said Peter Tomozawa, the CEO of the Seattle local organizing committee for the World Cup. “We’re one of the most welcoming cities in the whole world, and we welcome everyone with open arms.”
Tomozawa said after the draw he was hoping to see Japan, South Korea, Portugal or Brazil land in Seattle.
“We got none of those,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t reveal it before because I didn’t want to jinx it.”
Instead, the biggest name country with the chance of playing here is likely Belgium, who is ranked eighth in the world and was drawn at the top of Group G. Teams from that group will play two group stage games in Seattle on June 15 and June 26.
The rest of Group G includes Egypt, Iran and New Zealand and the winner of that group will also play in the round of 32 match at Lumen Field on July 1.
Iran will have to play at least one match in the U.S. – in either Seattle or Los Angeles – at the same time there is currently a travel ban on Iranian residents entering the country.
The other group stage match will come out of Group B on June 24 and has the potential to include powerhouse Italy.
The Italians did not qualify for the World Cup through the European qualifiers and are now part of a four-team playoff that will take place in March and includes Wales, Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The winner will advance to the World Cup and be included in the match in Seattle.
Their opponent will be Qatar, the host of the last World Cup in 2022. That matchup appears set as Canada is expected to play Switzerland – the other two teams from Group B – that day in Vancouver, B.C.
Two other games in the region both appear set, both of them in Vancouver. On June 13, Australia will play a team from one of the other European playoffs, either Kosovo, Slovakia, Romania or Turkey at BC Place. The U.S. plays its opening match the day before in Los Angeles against Paraguay.
The other set match in Vancouver is the Canadians on June 18 against Qatar.
Seattle’s local organizing committee for the tournament held a watch party at a brewery on Capitol Hill that had a few hundred in attendance and included fans watching in jerseys from Mexico, Colombia, Senegal, Brazil, Portugal and the U.S., along with club teams from around the world.
The overly produced draw took nearly 90 minutes before getting to the whole reason anyone was paying attention and tuning in. The preamble to the actual event included multiple musical performances and the awarding of the first FIFA Peace Prize, which was given to President Donald Trump by FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Giving the award to Trump came after he has threatened more than once to potentially pull the games out of cities his administration did not deem safe, including Seattle. His most recent threats, which came last month during a meeting of his FIFA Task Force, included comments about newly elected Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson.
“It’s just sort of disappointing, I suppose, to hear remarks like that because we’ve been working with the White House Task Force since its inception. We’ve been working on security – because that’s the thing that he cites as the issue – but we’ve been working on security at the international, national, state and local level since we started,” Tomozawa said.
Tomozawa cited the approval of federal funding earlier this year directed toward security for all the U.S.-based World Cup host cities as a sign of a solid working relationship with the administration despite the comments from the president.
“All I can say is our plan was to have the safest, secure event ever. It was safe and secure during the Club World Cup. No reason to believe that’s not going to happen again in 2026,” he said.
Trump was lightly booed by the fans in attendance at the Seattle watch party when he was shown on the screen, while Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney received polite applause.
Group of annoyance
With the tournament expanding to 48 teams and 32 advancing to the knockout rounds, there will be eight third-place teams that advance out of the group stage. Countries don’t have to finish first or second in their group to move on. There wasn’t really a true “Group of death,” as there has been in previous World Cup draws.
But there are two groups that jump out immediately as notable for the chance that they become annoying for the top teams in those groups.
Group F is highlighted by the Netherlands, but also includes a very good Japan side, Tunisia and another European country that could include Ukraine, Sweden or Poland.
The other group that stands out as troublesome is Group L, where England is the top seed in the group. But there are challenges with talented Croatia, a finalist in 2018, Panama and Ghana.
Rundown of the groups
Here’s are the final groups after the draw:
Group A – Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, European playoff winner (Denmark, North Macedonia, Czechia, Ireland)
Group B – Canada, Qatar, Switzerland, European playoff winner (Italy, Wales, Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Group C – Brazil, Morocco, Scotland, Haiti
Group D – United States, Australia, Paraguay, European playoff winner (Turkey, Romania, Slovakia, Kosovo).
Group E – Germany, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Curacao
Group F – Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia, European playoff winner (Ukraine, Sweden, Poland, Albania)
Group G – Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand
Group H – Spain, Cabo Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay
Group I – France, Senegal, Norway, Intercontinental playoff winner (Bolivia, Suriname, Iraq)
Group J – Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan
Group K – Portugal, Colombia, Uzbekistan, Intercontinental playoff winner (Jamaica, New Caledonia, DR Congo).
Group L – England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama.