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2026 World Cup (Official Thread)

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Gimme a Paraguay result tonight and I’ll be thrilled. The game to rest against Turkey without having to worry about posturing for position.

The BBC has a live standings bracket. This obviously doesn’t mean anything but gives some insight on what caliber of teams the US could face by finishing first in the group.

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USA World Cup knockout bracket: Who could USMNT play if they finish first in Group D?​

With two wins in the group stage of the World Cup, the United States men's national team has booked a place in the knockout rounds. They'll have to wait until Friday night to find out if they'll officially clinch the group, but they control their own destiny either way. A point against Turkiye in the final group stage game will lock in first place regardless of any other results. And the way Mauricio Pochetino's men are playing, that's a likely outcome.

Even if first place isn't clinched just yet, it's not too early to start looking ahead to potential knockout round opponents. The first-place team in Group D will take on the best third-place team from Group A, E, H, I or J. Here's who the U.S. might have in front of them:

Who USA could face in World Cup knockouts if they finish first in Group D​

Group % chance of 3rd team facing USA Potential matchup
Group B 66.4 Bosnia and Herzegovina or Qatar
Group J 12.9 Jordan or Austria
Group I 10.5 Senegal
Group E 7.8 Ecuador
Group F 2.2 Japan or Sweden
I won't get into all the permutations for how third-place teams will be slotted into the World Cup knockout rounds bracket. There are 495 of them. So we're going on probability here. The most likely opponent the USMNT will be paired against is the third-place team in Group B.

Group B includes Canada, Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Qatar. Canada and Switzerland are well on their way to finishing first and second in the ground, but they're even on four points while the latter two have one point each. The winner of the game between Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Qatar is the USA's likeliest round of 32 opponent.

Road to the final for USMNT​

Round Potential Opponents Likely Opponent
Round of 32 3B/E/F/I/J Bosnia-Herzegovina, Qatar
Round 16 1G or 3A/E/H/I/J Belgium, Egypt, Czechia
Quarterfinals 2K/2L or 1H/2J Colombia, Ghana, Spain, Austria
Semifinals 1E/1I/3? or 2A/2B/1F/2C Germany, France, South Korea, Switzerland, Netherlands, Morocco, Brazil
If the United States makes it through the round of 32, they're likely to face Belgium in the round of 16. That would set up a juicy redemption narrative for the Americans, who were knocked out of the World Cup by the Belgians in extra time in the 2014 round of 16.

From there, USA could run into one of the World Cup favorites in the quarterfinals: Spain. That's assuming the Spanish recover from their shocking opening round draw with Cape Verde and win Group H.
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I am thinking that there might have been some sort of argument off camera between Henry / Zlatan and Alexi Lalas.

It's a short-ish trip from Los Angeles (where the studio is) to Seattle (where Lalas was), but those two seem happier with Lalas out of the studio.

Then Rebecca Lowe went on Dan Patrick Show to talk about how much respect the three have for each other.
 
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