The 2026 World Cup bracket will be finalized on Saturday night as group stage wraps up. The United States men’s national team has known its Round of 32 opponent for a few days, but the rest of its potential path to the final is coming into focus.
On July 1, the USMNT will play its Round of 32 match in Santa Clara, California. As winners of Group D, the U.S. was paired against a third-place team from Group B, E, F, I or J via FIFA’s 495 possible combinations. That turned out to be Bosnia and Herzegovina, which finished third in Group B with four points.
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Round of 16
If the USMNT were to beat Bosnia, it would mark the team’s first knockout stage win since reaching the quarterfinals at the 2002 World Cup.
If the U.S. advances, it will face the winner of Belgium and Senegal. Belgium topped Group G with five points and beat the U.S. 5-2 in March.
The path would have been a bit easier for the U.S. had Egypt beaten Iran and not drawn 1-1 on Friday night. That result put Mohamed Salah‘s side into a tie on five points with Belgium atop Group B. FIFA’s new group stage tiebreakers list head-to-head first, but with Egypt and Belgium tying in their match, the goal differential came into play and favored the Red Devils (+4 to +2).
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Belgium is currently 10th in FIFA’s men’s team rankings. Egypt is slotted at 26th.
How far will Mauricio Pochettino and the U.S. men’s national team go in the knockout rounds?
(The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)
Quarterfinals
Should the USMNT equal what they did in 2002, Spain, the Group H winners, is a potential opponent in the final eight.
Spain will play the Group J runner-up, Algeria or Austria, in its opening knockout stage match on July 2.
The runners-up from Group K and L, Portugal and Croatia, will play in the other Round of 32 part of that bracket, with the winner moving on to face Spain.
A USMNT versus Spain/Portugal/Croatia match on July 10 in Los Angeles would pose the toughest test of the tournament yet for Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
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Semifinals
The USMNT has reached a World Cup semifinal once before. Sure, it was in 1930 during the inaugural tournament and the format was much different with only 13 teams, but they were a win away from playing for a world title. Nearly a century later, winning three knockout round matches would prove to be the best showing ever by the U.S., which would have meant knocking off some global soccer powers on the way.
There are a number of possibilities for who would serve as a semifinal opponent and it would be a difficult task inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington on July 14. The other half of the USMNT’s side of the bracket features heavyweights like France and Germany, which have won a combined six World Cups, and the Netherlands, which knocked the Americans out in Qatar four years ago.
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Also in the mix could be Paraguay, which the U.S. beat 4-1 in their opening group stage match, Sweden, Morocco and fellow co-hosts Canada.
“Do you believe in miracles?,” Al Michaels once asked.
If the USMNT is playing at MetLife Stadium on July 19 in a World Cup Final … you could only imagine the level of excitement around the country in anticipation of the biggest game in American soccer history.
The other side of the knockout stage bracket is highlighted by even more soccer giants. Five-time champion Brazil, three-time winners Argentina, England and Mexico are among the potential contenders on that side.
Suffice to say, it’ll be a long road against a whole lot of juggernauts for the U.S. if they keep winning in the knockout round — and it was only made tougher by Friday night’s results.
