Friday’s 2022 World Cup draw in Qatar placed the United States men’s national team in Group B with England.
The group also includes IR Iran and the winner of a European playoff that will be decided in June when Wales takes on either Scotland or Ukraine.
The U.S. will open play against that playoff winner on Nov. 21 before facing England on Nov. 25 — the day after Thanksgiving, followed by a Nov. 29 clash with IR Iran.
The Americans are competing in the World Cup for the first time since 2014.
“We think it’s a good group — we know every opponent in the World Cup is difficult, but with England you get an exciting matchup, with Iran it’s a diverse opponent and they’ve done well in qualifying and then we’ll have to wait and see who the third opponent is,” U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter told the BBC.
“Overall pleased with the group and excited to get started.”
In 1950 in Brazil, the U.S. pulled off one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history with a 1-0 win against heavily favored England. The two sides played to a 1-1 draw at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Fellow CONCACAF qualifiers Mexico and Canada were drawn into Groups C and F, respectively.
The 32-team tournament, the first World Cup held in the Middle East, runs from Nov. 21 to Dec. 18.
The complete group-by-group breakdown:
Group A: Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands
Group B: England, IR Iran, USA, European playoff winner
Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland
Group D: France, Denmark, Tunisia, Intercontinental playoff 1 winner
Group E: Spain, Germany, Japan, Intercontinental playoff 2 winner
Group F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia
Group G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon
Group H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, Korea Republic
–Field Level Media
