Argentina and Messi to open World Cup against Algeria, US starts against Paraguay
WASHINGTON AP Argentina and Lionel Messi will start their World Cup title defense against Algeria while the U S was drawn Friday to open against Paraguay as soccer s quadrennial championship returns to North America for the first time since Three-time champion Argentina also will play Austria and Jordan in Group J of the expanded -nation -game festival spread across NFL stadiums plus three venues in Mexico and two in Canada The ceremony included U S President Donald Trump receiving a peace prize awarded by FIFA and balls with organization names plucked famous North American athletes Tom Brady Shaquille O Neal Aaron Judge and Wayne Gretzky The U S which reached the semifinals at the inaugural World Cup in and the quarterfinals in starts Group D against Paraguay on June in Inglewood California The Americans play Australia six days later at Seattle then face Turkey Romania Slovakia or Kosovo on June back at SoFi Stadium Full respect U S coach Mauricio Pochettino revealed of the Americans group stage foes But yes believing that we can go through but we need to perform We need to evolve and be better every time that we are together Mexico was drawn to open on June in Mexico City against South Africa in Group A which also includes South Korea and the winner of playoff games among the Czech Republic Ireland Denmark and North Macedonia When South Africa hosted the tournament in it drew Mexico for its opening match and tied - South Africa then became the first host country to fail to advance from the group stage Forty-two of the teams have been determined and are competing in playoffs for six berths that will be decided March Winners and second-place nations from the groups advance to the new round of along with the top eight third-place teams All games from the quarterfinals on will be in the U S culminating in the July final at East Rutherford New Jersey Specific sites for all group stage games and kickoff times were to be declared Saturday England which won its only title in plays Croatia Ghana and Panama in Group L and five-time champion Brazil meets Morocco Haiti and Scotland in Group C Top-ranked Spain the champion faces Cape Verde Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in Group H while four-time champion Germany plays Cura ao Ivory Coast and Ecuador in Group E Two-time champion France plays Senegal Norway and Bolivia Iraq or Suriname in Group I Senegal beat defending champion France - in the opener Portugal s Cristiano Ronaldo like Messi expected to play in a record sixth World Cup has Group K matches against Uzbekistan Colombia and Congo Jamaica or New Caledonia Other groups include G Belgium Egypt Iran New Zealand B Canada Switzerland Qatar and Italy Bosnia-Herzegovina Wales or Northern Ireland F Netherlands Japan Tunisia and Sweden Ukraine Albania and Poland No crew has repeated as champion since Brazil in and and only eight nations have won soccer s biggest prize Italy has four titles and Uruguay two Cape Verde Cura ao Jordan and Uzbekistan are in the tournament for the first time Cura ao is the smallest nation by population to reach the World Cup an autonomous territory of about people within the Netherlands kingdom Trump Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum and and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney selected the balls of their own countries from bowls during a ceremony at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The lead-in show was almost as long as a soccer match with the actual draw for the expanded -nation tournament starting in the th minute On a wintry day with snow falling soccer representatives and celebrities filled the hall days before the expanded -nation -game tournament FIFA President Gianni Infantino gave Trump a large gold-colored peace prize trophy and a gold-colored medal hanging from a blue ribbon which Trump hung around his neck Standing next to Trump Infantino lavished praise This is truly one of the great honors of my life Trump explained
