USA's 2026 World Cup opponents: A deep dive on Group D rivals as Turkey now confirmed

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Martin Macdonald | Writer

Content writer covering football, formula 1 and movies

After events this week, the United States now know the three teams they'll face in the 2026 World Cup group stage.

The group stage draw took place on Friday, 5 December at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, at 17:00 GMT.

It was presented by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and, eventually, Rio Ferdinand and broadcaster Samantha Johnson.

The teams were picked from the pots by Shaquille O'Neal, Wayne Gretzky, Aaron Judge and Tom Brady.

The United States, coached by Mauricio Pochettino, were drawn into Group D alongside Paraguay, Australia and one of Turkiye, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo.

Turkiye won their World Cup playoff final on Tuesday so they have been confirmed as the final nation in Group D.

USA's World Cup group

FIFA WORLD CUP 2026: GROUP D

• USA
• Paraguay
• Australia
• Turkiye

Let's take a closer look at the USMNT's opponents

Paraguay

All 10 national teams from the CONMEBOL federation entered qualification and took part in a league table system of qualification.

Paraguay weren't totally convincing in qualifying as they actually finished in the bottom half of the table, but luckily for them, the top six earned automatic qualification to the World Cup. They earned it with relative comfort, though, as they finished six points clear of seventh-placed Bolivia, who only qualified for the World Cup playoffs.

From their 18 matches home and away, they won seven, drew seven and lost four. They scored less than a goal a game (14) but conceded just 10.

Their losses came against Venezuela away, Argentina away, Colombia at home and Brazil away.

Impressively, they defeated Argentina and Brazil at home, winning 2-1 and 1-0 respectively.

Diego Gomez scored the only goal of the game against Brazil and Antonio Sanabria and Omar Alderete were on the scoresheet in the 2-1 victory versus Argentina.

Sanabria was Paraguay's top scorer in qualifying, with four.

Paraguay's best performance at the World Cup came the last time they qualified in 2010 when they reached the quarter-final stage. They have missed the last three tournaments in Brazil, Russia and Qatar.

They are coached by Gustavo Alfaro.

Australia

Australia are now regulars at the World Cup as they have qualified for the last six tournaments in a row. Prior to 2006, they had only qualified once in 1974.

The Socceroos were excellent in qualifying as they won every single match in the second round and finished just behind Japan in the third round to earn automatic qualification.

They scored 38 goals in qualifying but only Kusini Yengi scored six or more times so they are all about the collective.

In the 2022 World Cup they made it to the Round of 16 but were eliminated by eventual champions, Argentina. They have reached that stage on only two occasions, with the other coming in 2006 in Germany.

They are coached by Tony Popovic.

Turkiye

Turkiye finished second in Group E of UEFA Qualifying, three points behind table leaders, Spain. Conceding goals were a problem for them as although they scored 17, they conceded 14 in the group, while La Roja only conceded two. That proved the difference.

They only dropped points in two matches and those were against Spain, losing one of those fixtures 6-0.

Turkiye's second-placed finish allowed them to qualify for the playoffs, where they narrowly progressed to World Cup qualification after narrow wins against Romania and then Kosovo.

This is a talented generation in the Turkish side at the moment, with wonderkids like Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz complemented by veteran heads like Hakan Calhanoglu. They are a side that nobody will want to face in the early knockout stages.

Interestingly for a country of its size, Turkiye have only qualified for the World Cup on two previous occasions in 1954 and 2002. They were one of the surprise packages in 2002 in Japan and South Korea as they finished third, winning their third-place playoff against South Korea after losing the semi-final 1-0 thanks to a goal from the great Ronaldo.

They won the third-place playoff 3-2 after a goal from Hakan Sukar and a double from lhan Mansız.

They are coached by Italian Vincenzo Montella.

World Cup draw in full

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Group I

Group J

Group K

Group L