WASHINGTON — The draw for the biggest World Cup in history was probably the cringiest.
‘This will be the greatest FIFA World Cup ever,’ said FIFA president Gianni Infantino, no stranger to hyperbole. ‘The greatest event humanity will ever see.’
How great?
‘I will put it in terms that the American audience will understand. uruguThe World Cup is like 104 Super Bowls in one month,’ added Infantino, recycling a line he trotted out earlier this year.
The star-studded event didn’t get into the actual draw for about 80 minutes, but eventually the groups were set for next summer’s 48-team tournament being staged across North America.
The United States got a favorable draw with matchups against Paraguay and Australia, avoiding group stage matchups with the world’s top teams. Fellow 2026 co-hosts Mexico and Canada were also able to let out a sigh of relief on Friday, neither country unfortunate enough to end up grouped with a top-tier opponent.
From the USMNT’s dream draw to France and England’s tough groups, here’s a look at the winners and losers of the 2026 World Cup draw:
World Cup draw winners
USMNT
The draw could have gone about as well as hoped for the USMNT, placed in Group D with Paraguay, Australia and a to-be-determined European team.
In the draw’s top pot as one of the World Cup co-hosts, the U.S. was gifted the matchup against Australia, the lowest-ranked team in Pot B. That spot in the USMNT’s group could have been filled by a top-11 opponent like Croatia and Morocco, oran 13th and 16th-ranked CONMEBOL opponent in Colombia or Uruguay.
‘My message to the players is Paraguay, Australia and the other team are going to be difficult,’ U.S. manager Mauricio Pochetinno said. ‘We need to prepare like each game is the final of the World Cup. Thinking we should win before we play the games is the wrong mindset.’
Donald Trump
The American president had a big day at the Kennedy Center, officially getting awarded the inaugural ‘FIFA Peace Prize,’ a brand new honor the soccer’s governing body seemed to invent purely to flatter Trump.
“This is truly one of the great honors of my life – and beyond,” Trump said.
The entire world watched the Trump infomercial that accompanied the awarding of both a medal and a trophy – but the president kept his acceptance speech tight and got some earnest laughs. Trump correctly joked that the U.S. should adopt the word ‘football’ rather than ‘soccer’ because the name of (American) football ‘really does not make sense when you think about it.’
To close the event, Trump danced to the ‘Y.M.C.A.’ performed live for him by the Village People .
Argentina
‘We’re going to give it our all and try to do what we did in the last World Cup, which is to give everything we can, not give up on any ball,’ Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni said.
Barring injury, Messi and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo will set a record next summer by appearing in their sixth career World Cup.
World Cup draw losers
France
The world’s third-ranked team was dealt a difficult draw, getting grouped with Senegal (the second-ranked African team) and a Norway side powered by Manchester City’s record-setting striker Erling Haaland.
France was famously upset by Senegal to open its title defense at the 2002 World Cup, arguably the greatest result in the nation’s history.
“It’s always a pleasure to play against France. It’s a country we know well — for me, it’s my second home,’ said Senegal coach Pape Thiaw, who was in the 2002 squad. ‘Twenty-four years later, we face them again. In 2002, it went well for us. This will not be an easy match. We will be well prepared.”
England
The Three Lions, ranked fourth in the world, got as unlucky as possible by having Croatia assigned into Group L with them. The Croats lost to France in the final of 2018 World Cup – after knocking out England in the semifinals – and finished third at the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
Things certainly could have been worse for England with Panama and Ghana as the other two countries in the group, but opening the tournament against one of the best teams in the world is not ideal. Boss Thomas Tuchel has been outspoken about the challenges of playing in the summer heat and different time zones across North America and reaffirmed after the draw that the team would perserve.
‘We have to find a way to dig in,’ Tuchel told reporters. ‘We have to accept it and built a high tolerance towards these obstacles.’
The fans
The first half of the two-hour draw, hosted by Heidi Klum and Kevin Hart, didn’t feature much soccer. Infantino said a bunch of nice things about Trump and viewers were treated to FIFA’s Trump highlight reel as well an uninspiring performance by Robbie Williams and Nicole Scherzinger.
Even Lauryn Hill couldn’t save the block of programming.
Sure, it was funny watching Shaq and Tom Brady struggle opening the balls and Wayne Gretzky butcher the pronunciation of multiple countries, did anybody actually enjoy this thing?
