WASHINGTON — As a co-host of the World Cup, the U.S. men’s national soccer team knew early on that it would be participating in the World Cup — without qualifying. It also knows the venues and dates for the group stages. What remains unresolved is the opponent.
Their draw came to light at the Kennedy Center on Friday – with the results heavily favoring Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
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As the top seed in Group D, the U.S. welcomes Australia and Paraguay — two easy opponents they defeated in home friendlies this fall — as well as the winners of March’s play-in games between Turkey, Romania, Slovakia and Kosovo.
The United States will face Paraguay on June 12 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., and then Australia on June 19 at Lumen Field in Seattle. The group final will be against the play-off winners in Inglewood on June 25.
It could be worse. Australia are the lowest-ranked team in Pot 2, with Paraguay coming from the middle of Pot 3. While the European play-off champions aren’t the easiest matchups in Pot 4, neither are the play-offs coming from Italy.
Pochettino will certainly be pleased with the result.
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FIFA will announce the full schedule and venue designations on Saturday.
Washington received its first snow of the season and welcomed dignitaries and media from around the world, kicking off the festivities with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli’s “Nessun Dorma.”
Co-hosts Kevin Hart and Heidi Klum introduced FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who went into more detail.
“FIFA is this Has been the official purveyor of human happiness for over a hundred years, right? ” he said. The World Cup “is more than just a sporting event; it is the greatest event that humanity has ever seen and will ever see. “
Infantino, who is preparing to oversee his third men’s World Cup, introduced US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, followed by Mexican President Claudia Shinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
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Infantino then led the crowd in chants of “USA!”, “Canada!” and “Mexico!”
As part of his continued support for Trump, Infantino presented the president with the FIFA Peace Prize, which has been explicitly designated for Trump since its creation last month.
“Mr. President, you can always count on my support,” Infantino said.
“Jenny, this is a huge honor,” Trump said.
As the draw began, Carney, Scheinbaum and Trump ceremoniously removed the ball from a bowl, which happened to have a note with their respective countries on it. After Carney and Scheinbaum made their “choices,” Trump reached into the bowl and drew laughter by declaring “this is shocking” before showing the results to the crowd.