MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
All right, soccer fans, the reality of the 2026 World Cup is taking shape. The games take place across North America next summer, and the draw took place today here in Washington. Leaders of all three host nations - that's Canada, Mexico, the U.S. - they represented their own countries in the draw, including President Trump, who appeared in high spirits when he drew the U.S. ball.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: This is shocking.
GIANNI INFANTINO: United States of America.
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KELLY: Our own Becky Sullivan was there at the Kennedy Center. She's here in the studio with us now. Hi, Becky.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Hello.
KELLY: Set the scene. What are we talking for this event?
SULLIVAN: Oh, I mean, it was madness. The whole Kennedy Center was taken up - the entire campus - in this huge, elaborate production. And of course, a ton of security because, as you said, those heads of states were there - President Trump, along with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. They all - each did a ceremonial first draw, like you just heard...
KELLY: Right.
SULLIVAN: ...For each of those three countries. FIFA president Gianni Infantino presented Trump with this brand-new award called the FIFA Peace Prize. And then these four big, gigantic North American sports stars - I think, names you guys will all know - Tom Brady, Shaquille O'Neal, Aaron Judge and Wayne Gretzky all came out to do the draw itself...
KELLY: Right.
SULLIVAN: ...Covered by - I was one, Mary Louise - one of 900 journalists, they said, from all around the world who had come to cover this event, which just goes to show how big a deal the World Cup is. And it's going to be huge next year. Hundred and four games across 16 cities - eleven of those cities here in the States. The U.S. alone is expecting more than a million international visitors for this, and FIFA says 2 million tickets have already been sold.
KELLY: It is going to be huge. And including on the pitch - huger than ever - 48 teams participating?
SULLIVAN: Yep.
KELLY: That's new. Do we know - so just cut to the chase. Who's the U.S. going to face first round?
SULLIVAN: Yeah. So in the group stage, the U.S. is going to open the World Cup with a game in Los Angeles against Paraguay. Then they're going to fly to Seattle, where they will play Australia. Their third opponent of the group stage still isn't set, though. There are actually six open slots still left in the World Cup. A bunch of teams all have to do these little playoffs for these spots next March. So we do know that the third team that the U.S. will face will either be Turkey, Kosovo, Slovakia or Romania. Of those, Turkey is the highest-ranked team - the favorite to make it - but it could be any of them.
KELLY: OK. So you just said U.S. is going to play Paraguay, Australia and TBD.
SULLIVAN: Yep.
KELLY: Is that a good draw?
SULLIVAN: Yeah. I mean, it's the World Cup. No team is - has an easy path. But I think as far as we have them this year, this one is definitely favorable, especially if Turkey gets upset in the playoff next spring. I think kind of all of the groups feel a little bit easy, so to speak, compared to previous World Cups because of the expansion. Next year, the other thing to note is not only will the top two teams from each group move on, but a bunch of third-place finishers will too.
And so, yeah, I mean, the U.S. actually recently played Australia and Paraguay both. They won both of those games. So they'll be rematches. Here's what U.S. head coach Mauricio Pochettino had to say about the rematches.
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MAURICIO POCHETTINO: We know them, but they know us. The most important is the evolution and keep improving.
SULLIVAN: Basically, there are no givens in the World Cup, Mary Louise, but I think it would be genuinely surprising if the U.S. gets eliminated in the group stage given these opponents that they'll face.
KELLY: Fingers crossed we will make it through. OK. Does this - does the draw that you were at today - does it set up any other big matchups we already know?
SULLIVAN: Yeah. I think one early game that's going to be massive is Brazil versus Morocco, who were the surprise semifinalist darlings of the last World Cup back in 2022. During the draw, I was sitting in the media center next to this Moroccan journalist who was just sweating it out the whole time.
KELLY: (Laughter).
SULLIVAN: He said, we're done, when Morocco got pulled and he found out they would have to face Brazil. Just so many groans and gasps and cheers from the whole room all time - all day long, which I just think shows just how much this means to a lot of people...
KELLY: Yeah.
SULLIVAN: ...Around the world.
KELLY: It sounds fun.
SULLIVAN: Yeah.
KELLY: Anything else we need to learn about the schedule for next summer?
SULLIVAN: Yeah. I mean, so the whole schedule with each team's - who's playing where and which cities - that's going to be released tomorrow. And then, of course, there's still those six open spots. We'll find them out. We'll have the final lineup in March.
KELLY: NPR's Becky Sullivan, just back from the World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center. Thank you, Becky.
SULLIVAN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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