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Official US Soccer / World Cup '26 Thread (USA vs. Mexico 3/24 in Dallas)

Did they move the games originally slated for Paramount+ to CBSSN?
 
OK. I thought I had seen USA-Mexico was originally on P+ as well.
 
Only the US mnt would come out with a banner saying “qualified” when not actually qualified. Bush league mgmt.
 
As far as CRC and sitting players … if Mexico were to lose CRC would need at most a plus 3 to tie Mexico for the 3rd slot. Not that I think Mexico will lose at home but they’ve been really shaky during these qualifiers.
 
Can someone give me a cliffs on this Pot 1 stuff? Is it based on qualifying or overall FIFA ranking or kickbacks/grift or what? What spot does Canada get?
 
Henry Chinaski said:
Can someone give me a cliffs on this Pot 1 stuff? Is it based on qualifying or overall FIFA ranking or kickbacks/grift or what? What spot does Canada get?
Click to expand...

32 nations qualify for the world cup, divided into 4 "pots" based solely on their FIFA rankings (except for the host nation, Qatar, who are automatically in pot 1). So pot 1 would be the top 7 ranked nations + Qatar, pot 2 the next 8, pot 3 the next 8, pot 4 the last 8. When it's time to draw for groups, you get one team from each pot per group. So group A will contain 1 pot 1 team, 1 pot 2 team, 1 pot 3 team, and 1 pot 4 team. There are other rules that apply as well, like 2 teams from South American cant be in the same group. So some teams will have to be moved to a different group if drawn together.

Canada will be pot 4 unfortunately since they started the year with such a low FIFA ranking, meaning whatever group they go into will very likely be the "group of death". USA and Mexico will be in pot 2 assuming Portugal beat North Macedonia
 
Henry Chinaski said:
Can someone give me a cliffs on this Pot 1 stuff? Is it based on qualifying or overall FIFA ranking or kickbacks/grift or what? What spot does Canada get?
Click to expand...

Here's how the pots stand as of this morning

 
Mexico City was probably my favorite city i've traveled to. Stunningly beautiful. Great food. The culture. I loved it.
 
Screamindemon3 said:
32 nations qualify for the world cup, divided into 4 "pots" based solely on their FIFA rankings (except for the host nation, Qatar, who are automatically in pot 1). So pot 1 would be the top 7 ranked nations + Qatar, pot 2 the next 8, pot 3 the next 8, pot 4 the last 8. When it's time to draw for groups, you get one team from each pot per group. So group A will contain 1 pot 1 team, 1 pot 2 team, 1 pot 3 team, and 1 pot 4 team. There are other rules that apply as well, like 2 teams from South American cant be in the same group. So some teams will have to be moved to a different group if drawn together.

Canada will be pot 4 unfortunately since they started the year with such a low FIFA ranking, meaning whatever group they go into will very likely be the "group of death". USA and Mexico will be in pot 2 assuming Portugal beat North Macedonia
Click to expand...

I don't get that Canada would be in a "group of death" automatically. Could they draw the #7 seed (or Qatar) from pot 1, the 15 from pot 2 and the 23 from pot 3? Meanwhile another team from pot 4 could get the 1, 8, 16 seeds.
 
the worst part about Canada being Pot 4 is that it increases the USMNT's chances of getting drawn with Peru or Wales, who would also be underseeded based on rankings.

for the same reason, tangentially it would potentially help the US if New Zealand beats Costa Rica, introducing NZ as a possible opponent and slightly reducing the odds for Wales/Peru
 
Deaconblue said:
I don't get that Canada would be in a "group of death" automatically. Could they draw the #7 seed (or Qatar) from pot 1, the 15 from pot 2 and the 23 from pot 3? Meanwhile another team from pot 4 could get the 1, 8, 16 seeds.
Click to expand...

Sure, but the "Group of Death" is usually decided and labeled by how good the Pot 3 and Pot 4 teams are, not 1 and 2.

Outside of Qatar, even a group with Portugal, Croatia, Nigeria, and Canada would be extremely competitive top to bottom.
 
On a quick glance, Poland appears to be the team we'd want to avoid from Pot 3. Maybe Japan, but I'd honestly welcome a matchup vs Japan. That would be fun.
 
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