WASHINGTON — The path out of the group stage for the U.S. Men’s National Team at the World Cup is crystal clear.

The Americans should be favorites in Group D after being drawn with Paraguay, Australia and the winner of a European playoff among Turkiye, Romania, Slovakia and Kosovo in Friday’s ceremony at the Kennedy Center.

The U.S. will face Paraguay to open its World Cup on home soil on June 12 in Los Angeles, which will also be Paraguay’s first game at the World Cup since 2010. The Americans beat Paraguay, 2-1, in a friendly just last month, which should give them some confidence, though it came with a heavily rotated U.S. squad.

President Trump at the World Cup draw John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Dec. 5, 2025. REUTERS

The Paraguayans made a good showing of themselves in South American qualifying, conceding the second-fewest goals in CONMEBOL and accumulating as many points as the likes of powerhouses Brazil and Colombia.

Australia, which will play the Americans in Seattle on June 19, tied its best-ever finish at the World Cup in 2022, finishing second in its group before losing to Argentina in the Round of 16. The Socceroos appointed coach Tony Popovic midway through their qualifying campaign after Graham Arnold resigned as a result of a loss to Bahrain and a draw to Indonesia. The squad led by midfielder Jackson Irvine still qualified with some ease following that speed bump, beating Japan and Saudi Arabia to secure passage.

Like Paraguay, the U.S. has also beaten Australia recently, taking a 2-1 win in an October friendly on a brace from Haji Wright.

The third opponent, with the game set to take place June 19 in Los Angeles, won’t be known until March 31. Turkey faces Romania and Slovakia faces Kosovo on March 26, with the two winners playing for a spot in the World Cup five days later.

Mauricio Pochettino’s USMNT has been hitting a stride recently, with wins over Uruguay and Paraguay during the November international window. That made it five in a row unbeaten for the Stars and Stripes, who last lost on Sept. 6 to South Korea.

The run of form comes as a relief after a rocky summer that included friendly losses to Turkiye and Switzerland, a loss in the Gold Cup Final to Mexico and a public spat between Pochettino and his best player, Christian Pulisic.

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All that appears to be in the past now, though the varied makeup of the squad during fall exhibition windows — stars such as Pulisic, Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie were all absent from the November window, for example — does make it a bit of a question how things will translate when the U.S. is at full strength.

United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino talks to midfielder Sebastian Berhalter (17) against Uruguay in the second half during an international friendly at Raymond James Stadium. Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

That indicator will have to wait until March, when the U.S. has friendlies scheduled against powerhouses Belgium and Portugal to end what will be the last international window before the team reconvenes in late May ahead of the World Cup itself.

The March camp in Atlanta is expected to feature as close to a World Cup roster as the U.S. can bring, and will be the last chance for players on the roster bubble to try and impress.

Mauricio Pochettino, Head Coach of United States, attends the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 05, 2025 in Washington, DC. FIFA via Getty Images

The U.S. has two more friendlies scheduled — against a team yet to be announced on May 31 in Charlotte, N.C., and against Germany on June 6 in Chicago — before it jets to California, where it will make its home base during the group stage.