The 2026 World Cup stage is set now that the groups have been decided following Friday\u2019s highly anticipated draw. The United States is in favorable Group D alongside Paraguay, Australia and a third team that will be determined in March via a playoff between T\u00fcrkiye, Slovakia, Romania and Kosovo.<\/p>\n
While those games will be dissected at length, let\u2019s take a look at nine other group stage matches that we\u2019re excited to watch:<\/p>\n
Mexico vs. South Africa \u2014 June 11, Estadio Azteca (3 p.m.)<\/strong><\/p>\n We have to start here because it\u2019s the opening match of the 2026 World Cup. It\u2019s also a rematch of the 2010 opener, and who doesn\u2019t love a World Cup rematch? Every nation desperately wants to win that first game, no matter who the opponent is. Estadio Azteca will be electric and probably unlike any environment we\u2019ve ever seen at that historic stadium. There will undoubtedly be a lot of pressure on El Tri, especially, as a co-host to win that first game and make a statement. After winning the Concacaf Nations League earlier this year and the Gold Cup this summer, Mexico hasn\u2019t been as strong in recent friendlies. Expect Javier Aguirre to have his A team on the pitch.<\/p>\n Brazil vs. Morocco \u2014 June 13, MetLife Stadium (3 p.m.)<\/strong><\/p>\n With the tournament field expanded to 48 teams, the top sides are more spread out, so there really is not a “Group of Death” scenario out there. However, putting Brazil and Morocco in a group together comes close. The Sele\u00e7\u00e3o<\/i> may not be the team they were back in the days of Ronaldo, but they\u2019re still Brazil, and they\u2019re always going to have a chance to win the World Cup. Morocco, meanwhile, put the soccer world on notice in Qatar when it became the first African nation ever to reach the World Cup semifinal. We saw manager Walid Regragui smile when the Atlas Lions were put into Brazil\u2019s group during the World Cup draw. So you know he\u2019s looking forward to this matchup, too.<\/p>\n Germany<\/strong> vs. Cura\u00e7ao \u2014 June 14, NRG Stadium (1 p.m.)<\/strong><\/p>\n This one is fun because it\u2019s a World Cup titan vs. the smallest nation to ever qualify for a World Cup. It\u2019s strange to say this, but Germany has something to prove at this tournament after failing to advance out of its group in Qatar. In 2022, it was drawn into a challenging group that included Japan and Spain, but it was still shocking to see the Germans eliminated so early. This time around, they have one of the more favorable groups, which includes Curacao, the Ivory Coast and Ecuador. It\u2019s important in these situations, however, not to overlook your opponent.<\/p>\n France<\/strong> vs. Senegal \u2014 MetLife Stadium, June 16 (3 p.m.)<\/strong><\/p>\n Another rematch! We love to see it. France opened the 2002 World Cup against Senegal and was famously upset, 1-0. Fans will remember that the late legend Papa Bouba Diop scoring the winning goal to stun the then-reigning world champion Les Bleus<\/i>. Could we see d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu next summer? France is a favorite to win it all and Didier Deschamps\u2019 side is especially motivated after losing to Argentina in an epic 2022 final that was decided by a penalty shootout. While France is favored, Senegal is no slouch and advanced out of the group stage at the last World Cup.<\/p>\n England vs. <\/strong>Croatia<\/strong> \u2014 June 17, AT&T Stadium (4 p.m.)<\/strong><\/p>\n This is a rematch of the 2018 World Cup semifinal when Croatia beat England 2-1 to advance to the final (where it ultimately lost to France). The Three Lions haven\u2019t won a World Cup since 1966 and so desperately want to bring it home. They\u2019re a favorite, to be sure, and new manager Thomas Tuchel has one of the most talented squads in the world. But England also has one of the tougher groups where they not only have to face Croatia and Luka Modric, but play potential trap games against sneaky opponents Panama and Ghana.<\/p>\n Argentina vs. Austria \u2014 June 22, AT&T Stadium (1 p.m.)<\/strong><\/p>\n We can\u2019t have a list without including the defending World Cup champs. Argentina certainly got a favorable draw and should have no problem advancing. Although, where have we heard that one before? Despite going on to win the 2022 World Cup,\u00a0La Albiceleste\u00a0<\/i>lost to Saudi Arabia in group play. Austria doesn\u2019t have nearly the same amount of talent, but they\u2019re a strong tactical side with quality players who play in top European leagues that could make things interesting in an otherwise softer Group J.<\/p>\n Norway vs. France \u2014 June 26, Gillette Stadium (3 p.m.)<\/strong><\/p>\n Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 vs. Erling Haaland in the opening round. Need we say more?<\/p>\n Spain vs. Uruguay \u2014 June 26, Estadio Akron (8 p.m.)<\/strong><\/p>\n This one will be a fun battle to conclude Group H play. Spain is the No. 1 team in the world and everyone will be glued to watching 18-year-old phenom Lamine Yamal in his first World Cup. The interesting thing about La Roja<\/i>, though, is that despite winning the European Championship in 2008, 2012 and 2024, they haven\u2019t been as dominant in World Cups. It seems like that kind of luck could change in 2026 \u2013 Spain is unbeaten in its last 31 consecutive competitive matches and has an overwhelming amount of talent. Uruguay, who won the very first World Cup in 1930, is always a tough side though, and you know star Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde will want to make a statement against his club country.<\/p>\n Colombia vs. <\/strong>Portugal<\/strong> \u2014 June 27, Hard Rock Stadium (7:30pm)<\/strong><\/p>\n We all (foolishly) thought that the 2022 World Cup would be the last for both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. And we were wrong. While Messi finally won a World Cup, the trophy still eludes Ronaldo in a career where he\u2019s won basically everything else. As is always the case, attention will follow Ronaldo for as long as Portugal is in the World Cup. And this juicy group stage matchup vs. a hard-nosed Colombian team will be one of the more intriguing early fixtures. Expect both sides to advance from Group K, but this will be must-watch TV.<\/p>\n Laken Litman<\/i> covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at\u00a0<\/i>@LakenLitman<\/u><\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY The 2026 World Cup stage is set now that the groups have been decided following Friday\u2019s highly anticipated draw. The United States is in favorable Group D alongside Paraguay, Australia and a third team that will be determined in March via a playoff between T\u00fcrkiye, Slovakia, Romania and Kosovo. While those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}