For the last month Americans have been watching soccer with the World Cup being played on U.S. soil for the first time in more than 30 years. The final game is this weekend.
As people from around the globe visit, the tournament has highlighted a sharing of cultures. Not only as people show off their own communities in support of their national teams, but also as tourists try American cuisine.
Videos on social media have shown people from Europe coming over and being impressed by the food. That raises the question of what makes the culinary landscape in the U.S., a country founded by immigrants, so different.
Chef Nick Sanchez is an immigrant who serves as the director of the Patchwork Culinary Project. He joins The Metro to discuss the impact of immigrants and refugees on the country’s culinary landscape.
“They bring their food and culture and their flavors with them,” Sanchez say. “Those flavors eventually become our daily meal staples.”
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ZURICH (AP) — FIFA says it will include three-minute hydration breaks in each half of every game at next year’s World Cup, not just those played in hot weather.
The referee will stop the game 22 minutes into each half for players to take drinks, regardless of the temperature, the host country — the United States, Canada or Mexico — or whether the stadium has a roof and air conditioning.
The change may also be a hit with broadcasters, since it makes the game schedule more predictable. FIFA said it was first announced when the governing body’s chief tournament officer for the 2026 World Cup, Manolo Zubiria, attended a meeting with broadcasters.
He indicated that referees may have some flexibility if there’s a stoppage shortly before the 22-minute mark for an injury.
“This will be addressed on the spot with the referee,” Zubiria said.
FIFA said the move is a “streamlined and simplified version” of an earlier practice of having breaks after 30 minutes over a certain temperature threshold, once set at 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 Fahrenheit) on the wet bulb global temperature system.
The change comes after heat and humidity affected players during some games at this year’s Club World Cup in the U.S.
At that tournament, FIFA reacted by lowering the threshold for cooling or water breaks and also placing more water and towels around the edge of the field.
Heat has long been an issue at major soccer tournaments. Amid concerns ahead of the 2014 World Cup, a Brazilian court ordered FIFA to make its recommended breaks mandatory or face fines.
FILE – Fluminense players cooling up during a water break at the Club World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Fluminense and Al Hilal in Orlando, Fla., Friday, July 4, 2025. (AP Photo/John Raoux, file)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The World Cup final will kick off at 3 p.m. EDT next July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
FIFA announced the start times for the tournament’s 104 matches on Saturday, a day after the draw for the expanded 48-nation tournament. The kickoff time allows for prime-time viewing in Europe, where it will be 9 p.m., and Britain, where it will be 8 p.m.
The average 3 p.m. temperature over the past 30 years in East Rutherford on July 19 is 83 degrees (28 Celsius) with a RealFeel index of 89 (32), according to AccuWeather.
Nine of the 10 World Cup finals from 1978 through 2014 started in the 2-3:30 p.m. EDT range, the exception 2002 in Japan, which began at 7 a.m. EDT. The 2018 final started at 11 a.m. EDT and the 2022 championship of a tournament shifted to winter in Qatar at 10 a.m. EST.
The 1994 final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, kicked off at 12:30 p.m. local time (3:30 p.m. EDT).
FIFA announced the schedule and sites after factoring in travel and broadcast.
“Let’s just say it’s been a long night — or a short night,” chief tournament officer Manolo Zubiria said. “As I explained earlier to some of the coaches, we’ve tried to basically strike the right balance looking at the preparation, the recovery that the teams have to do in this very large footprint, the biggest World Cup ever, 16 cities, three countries, different climatic conditions, time zones.”
Zubira said goals included “trying to minimize travel for the teams and the fans to try to see their teams play, and obviously trying to see how to best expose this competition to the world, trying to find the right times for the kickoff times in specific cities, taking into consideration some restrictions.”
The opener at Mexico City on June 11 between El Tri and South Africa will start at 1 p.m. local (3 p.m. EDT).
Semifinals will start at 2 p.m. (3 p.m. EDT) on July 14 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and 3 p.m. the following day at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, both of which have retractable roofs.
Quarterfinals will begin at 4 p.m. on July 9 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and noon (3 p.m. EDT) the following day at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The last two quarterfinals are on July 11, starting at 5 p.m. at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, and 8 p.m. (9 p.m. EDT) at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Of the quarterfinal venues, SoFi has a roof but air from the outside can flow in, and the other three are open air.
Seventy-eight games will be in the U.S., including all from the quarterfinals on, and 13 apiece in Canada and Mexico.
During an event at the Capital Hilton, FIFA also announced sites of the 54 group stage games not finalized with Friday’s draw, which fixed venues for only Groups A, B and D — which include co-hosts Mexico, Canada and the United States.
South Korea is the only team other than Canada and Mexico with no games in the U.S., playing its opener in Guadalajara against the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland or North Macedonia, then facing El Tri at the same venue and finishing the round against South Africa in Monterrey.
The U.S. first-round games will be a 6 p.m. local start (9 p.m. EDT) against Paraguay at Inglewood on June 12, a noon kickoff (3 p.m. EDT) vs. Australia at Seattle seven days later and a 7 p.m. start on June 25 at SoFi against Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo.
Japan’s Group F game against Tunisia at Monterrey, Mexico, on June 20 will be the 1,000th World Cup match.
Germany’s June 14 Group E opener against Curaçao will kick off at noon local (1 p.m. EDT) at NRG Stadium. Curaçao has the smallest population of a country to reach the World Cup at about 150,000.
“It will be played in Houston, which is a closed venue, indoor, so nobody can complain about heat or weather or wind or whatever,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said.
AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.
2026 World Cup Schedule
United States, Mexico, Canada
FIRST ROUND
GROUP A
Thursday, June 11
Mexico City
Mexico vs. South Africa 2000 GMT
Guadalajara
South Korea vs. Denmark/North Macedonia/Czech Republic/Ireland, 0300 GMT Friday
Thursday, June 18
Atlanta
Denmark/North Macedonia/Czech Republic/Ireland vs. South Africa, 1700 GMT
Guadalajara
Mexico vs. South Korea, 0200 GMT Friday
Wednesday, June 24
Mexico City
Denmark/North Macedonia/Czech Republic/Ireland vs. Mexico, 0200 GMT Thursday
Monterrey
South Africa vs. South Korea, 0200 GMT Thursday
GROUP B
Friday, June 12
Toronto
Canada vs. Italy/Northern Ireland/Wales/Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2000 GMT
Saturday, June 13
Santa Clara, California
Qatar vs. Switzerland, 2000 GMT
Thursday, June 18
Los Angeles
Switzerland vs. Italy/Northern Ireland/Wales/Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2000 GMT
Vancouver
Canada vs. Qatar, 2300 GMT
Wednesday, June 24
Vancouver
Switzerland vs. Canada, 2000 GMT
Seattle
Italy/Northern Ireland/Wales/Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Qatar, 2000 GMT
GROUP C
Saturday, June 13
East Rutherford, New Jersey
Brazil vs. Morocco, 2300 GMT
Boston
Haiti vs. Scotland, 0200 GMT Sunday
Friday, June 19
Boston
Scotland vs. Morocco, 2300 GMT
Philadelphia
Brazil vs. Haiti, 0200 GMT Saturday
Wednesday, June 24
Miami
Scotland vs. Brazil, 2300 GMT
Atlanta
Morocco vs. Haiti, 2300 GMT
GROUP D
Friday, June 12
Los Angeles
United States vs. Paraguay, 0200 GMT Saturday
Saturday, June 13
Vancouver
Australia vs. Turkey/Romania/Slovakia/Kosovo, 0500 GMT Sunday
Friday, June 19
Santa Clara, California
Turkey/Romania/Slovakia/Kosovo vs. Paraguay, 0500 GMT Saturday
Seattle
United States vs. Australia, 2000 GMT
Thursday, June 25
Los Angeles
Turkey/Romania/Slovakia/Kosovo vs. United States, 0300 GMT Friday
Santa Clara, California
Paraguay vs. Australia, 0300 GMT Friday
GROUP E
Sunday, June 14
Houston
Germany vs. Curacao, 1800 GMT
Philadelphia
Ivory Coast vs. Ecuador, 0000 GMT Monday
Saturday, June 20
Toronto
Germany vs. Ivory Coast, 2100 GMT
Kansas City
Ecuador vs. Curacao, 0100 GMT Sunday
Thursday, June 25
East Rutherford, New Jersey
Ecuador vs. Germany, 2100 GMT
Philadelphia
Curacao vs. Ivory Coast, 2100 GMT
GROUP F
Sunday, June 14
Dallas
Netherlands vs. Japan, 2100 GMT
Monterrey
Ukraine/Sweden/Poland/Albania vs. Tunisia, 0300 GMT Monday
Saturday, June 20
Houston
Netherlands vs. Ukraine/Sweden/Poland/Albania, 1800 GMT
Monterrey
Tunisia vs. Japan, 0500 GMT Sunday
Thursday, June 25
Dallas
Japan vs. Ukraine/Sweden/Poland/Albania, 0000 GMT Friday
Kansas City
Tunisia vs. Netherlands, 0000 GMT Friday
GROUP G
Monday, June 15
Seattle
Belgium vs. Egypt, 2000 GMT
Los Angeles
Iran vs. New Zealand, 0200 GMT Tuesday
Sunday, June 21
Los Angeles
Belgium vs. Iran, 2000 GMT
Vancouver
New Zealand vs. Egypt, 0200 GMT Monday
Friday, June 26
Seattle
Egypt vs. Iran, 0400 GMT Saturday
Vancouver
New Zealand vs. Belgium, 0400 GMT Saturday
GROUP H
Monday, June 15
Atlanta
Spain vs. Cape Verde, 1700 GMT
Miami
Saudi Arabia vs. Uruguay, 2300 GMT
Sunday, June 21
Atlanta
Spain vs. Saudi Arabia, 1700 GMT
Miami
Uruguay vs, Cape Verde, 2300 GMT
Friday, June 26
Houston
Cape Verde vs. Saudi Arabia, 0100 GMT Saturday
Guadalajara
Uruguay vs. Spain, 0100 GMT Saturday
GROUP I
Tuesday, June 16
East Rutherford, New Jersey
France vs. Senegal, 2000 GMT
Boston
Iraq/Bolivia/Suriname vs. Norway, 2300 GMT
Monday, June 22
Philadelphia
France vs. Iraq/Bolivia/Suriname, 2200 GMT
East Rutherford, New Jersey
Norway vs. Senegal, 0100 GMT Tuesday
Friday, June 26
Boston
Norway vs. France, 2000 GMT
Toronto
Senegal vs. Iraq/Bolivia/Suriname, 2000 GMT
GROUP J
Tuesday, June 16
Kansas City
Argentina vs. Algeria, 0200 GMT Wednesday
Santa Clara, California
Austria vs. Jordan, 0500 GMT Wednesday
Monday, June 22
Dallas
Argentina vs. Austria, 1800 GMT
Santa Clara, California
Jordan vs. Algeria, 0400 GMT Tuesday
Saturday, June 27
Kansas City
Algeria vs. Austria, 0300 GMT Sunday
Dallas
Jordan vs. Argentina, 0300 GMT Sunday
GROUP K
Wednesday, June 17
Houston
Portugal vs. DR Congo/Jamaica/New Caledonia, 1800 GMT
Mexico City
Uzbekistan vs. Colombia, 0300 GMT Thursday
Tuesday, June 23
Houston
Portugal vs. Uzbekistan, 1800 GMT
Guadalajara
Colombia vs. DR Congo/Jamaica/New Caledonia, 0300 GMT Wednesday
Saturday, June 27
Miami
Colombia vs. Portugal, 0030 Sunday
Atlanta
DR Congo/Jamaica/New Caledonia vs. Uzbekistan, 0030 GMT Sunday
GROUP L
Wednesday, June 17
Dallas
England vs. Croatia, 2100 GMT
Toronto
Ghana vs. Panama, 0000 GMT Thursday
Tuesday, June 23
Boston
England vs. Ghana, 2100 GMT
Toronto
Panama vs. Croatia, 0000 GMT Wednesday
Saturday, June 27
East Rutherford, New Jersey
Panama vs. England, 2200 GMT
Philadelphia
Croatia vs. Ghana, 2200 GMT
FILE – General view of the MetLife stadium during the Club World Cup semifinal soccer match between Fluminense and Chelsea in East Rutherford, N.J., Tuesday, July 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tyler Adams has set a bold goal for the U.S. soccer team, aiming to reach the World Cup semifinals for the first time since the inaugural tournament in 1930.
“Everyone’s going to want us to say winning it is obviously the goal,” the American midfielder said Friday after the World Cup draw, “but I think setting the benchmark of the furthest the U.S. team has gone is also realistic.”
The 14th-ranked U.S. will start Group D against No. 39 Paraguay on June 12 in Inglewood, California, and then play 26th-ranked Australia six days later at Seattle. The Americans conclude the group stage on June 25 back at SoFi Stadium against the winner of playoffs among Turkey (25), Slovakia (45), Romania (47) and Kosovo (80).
“Getting three points right off right off the bat like that would be would be an amazing start for us and just put us in a great position in the group,” star Christian Pulisic said.
It appears to be among the less difficult of the 12 groups. The top two in each advance to the new round of 32 along with the best four third-place teams.
“Listen, we all want to win a World Cup,” defender Tim Ream said. “You don’t play a tournament just to be there and so we’ve had conversations, Chris and I have had conversations about, yeah, we wan to win. I think people can laugh and say whatever they want.”
“Potentially we played all three of these teams in the last six months but that can be a little bit of a false kind of sense of security,” defender Ream said.
In nearly a century of World Cup play, the U.S. is 1-7 in knockout games, getting outscored 22-7. The Americans’ only win was 2-0 over Mexico in 2002’s round of 16, which was followed by a 1-0 quarterfinal loss to Germany. The Americans are winless in their last 12 World Cup matches against European teams, outscored 20-10.
“There’s no easy game in a World Cup. In fact, I think some of our hardest games in the previous World Cup were against the lesser opponents,” Adams said.
“It’s fair to say that the last World Cup we couldn’t set a bar or standard for anything. We didn’t know what to expect,” Adams said. “Now looking back on it, I think we have more experience. We’re a lot more mature. We’ve grown a lot as individuals and as a team.”
Coach Mauricio Pochettino has scheduled friendlies against Belgium and Portugal in March and vs. a team to be determined and Germany just before the tournament.
As he mulls his roster, Pochettino thinks about “Miracle,” a 2004 movie he watched last month about the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team of young players that upset the heavily favored Soviet Union and went on to win the gold medal. Coach Herb Brooks’ decisions made an impression on Pochettino.
“We don’t need the best players, we need the right players to make a team a strong team,” Pochettino said. “The right players to build a powerful team with the possibility to fight with any team in the in the world. Good and right are completely different.”
U.S. team coach Mauricio Pochettino arrives to attend the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The president of the United States danced to the Village People, Wayne Gretzky struggled to pronounce the names of underdog soccer nations from Europe and the Caribbean — and the head of FIFA declared his governing body to be humanity’s official provider of happiness.
And yes, teams were divided into groups for next year’s World Cup. That was, after all, the stated purpose of the gathering.
After Friday’s ceremony began, it took about 90 minutes — the length of a regulation soccer match — for the draw to begin in earnest. By then, casual fans who tuned in out of curiosity had learned that FIFA doesn’t really do understatement. Not for an event like this, at least.
A screen shows the final bracket at the end of the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (Jia Haocheng/Pool Photo via AP)
President Donald Trump loomed over the proceedings, as expected, receiving a peace award from FIFA that seemed to have been created specifically for him. FIFA President Gianni Infantino called his group “the official happiness provider for humanity” — which is certainly one way of describing an institution that’s been in the middle of any number of corruption allegations through the years.
In addition to Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney — who drew their countries into predetermined World Cup groups before the rest of the spots in the 12 four-team groups were filled — Friday’s festivities included plenty of big names.
Comedian Kevin Hart co-hosted the broadcast alongside Heidi Klum. Gretzky, Tom Brady, Shaquille O’Neal and Aaron Judge helped with the draw itself. Singers Robbie Williams, Nicole Scherzinger and Lauryn Hill performed.
Singer Robbie Williams and singer and actor Nicole Scherzinger perform during the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Over the top? Yes. One can only imagine the fan revolt if, for example, the selection shows for the NCAA basketball tournaments were handled this way. But there was no denying how many fans were tuning in — and FIFA was determined to make this a full-fledged entertainment event.
The Trump show
When the U.S. last hosted the men’s World Cup in 1994, then-president Bill Clinton didn’t even attend the draw. But Trump is no usual politician, and the former real estate mogul and reality show host ensured — with plenty of backup from FIFA — that he was the effective star of the event.
First, the event was held at the Kennedy Center, the longstanding arts institution in Washington whose leadership was ousted earlier this year and replaced with Trump loyalists. The president has jokingly called it the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”
Then the U.S. president was awarded the inaugural FIFA peace prize from soccer’s governing body.
“You definitely deserve the first FIFA Peace Prize for your action for what you have obtained in your way,” Infantino told Trump, who wore the prize’s gold medal around his neck.
The draw even opened and closed with some Trump musical favorites. Opera legend Andrea Bocelli, set to perform at the White House on Friday night, began the draw with a rendition of Puccini’s “Nessun dorma.”
Near the end, organizers brought the Village People on stage to perform “YMCA,” which, like “Nessun dorma,” is often performed at Trump campaign rallies. From his seat at the Kennedy Center, Trump stood up and did his signature dance.
Quite a production
FIFA looked to elevate the ceremony with comedy, music and star-driven moments. The organization packed the two hour-plus event with comedians, music stars, sports legends, roving interviews and commercials featuring popular actors Matthew McConaughey and Salma Hayek.
Some moments dazzled, others drifted. But together they signaled FIFA’s growing effort to turn the draw into entertainment.
Williams and Scherzinger earned a standing ovation with a rousing performance of FIFA’s official hymn, “Desire.” Hill followed with full-band renditions of “Lost Ones” and “Doo Wop (That Thing),” pausing to acknowledge Bob Marley’s deep connection to the game before bringing out his grandson, YG Marley, for a reggae-soul collaboration.
Klum and Hart introduced a rotation of sports legends as part of the extended broadcast. Hart welcomed Gretzky and Judge. Klum followed by introducing O’Neal, whose 7-foot-1 frame provided an instant visual contrast to Hart, before rounding out the sequence with Brady.
Former NBA player Shaquille O’Neal holds up the team name of Ecuador during the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Expanded field
Gretzky stumbled over the pronunciations of North Macedonia and Curaçao, two teams whose qualification hopes — North Macedonia isn’t actually in yet — were boosted by the fact that the World Cup expanded from 32 teams to 48. That meant the number of groups increased from eight to 12.
It also made for an even more complex draw, with six of the 48 teams not even known yet. Those six will come from March playoffs, which forced the draw to use placeholders.
Then there was FIFA’s policy of not putting multiple teams from the same continental confederation in the same group, with the exception of Europe. For an avid fan who’d studied the process, it wasn’t too hard to follow. For the uninitiated, there was probably a fair amount of confusion.
New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge shows Norway during the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, Pool)
Nuts and bolts
The expanded field also meant there was little chance of multiple powerhouses ending up in the same group. However, France has to contend with goal-scoring star Erling Haaland and Norway in Group I. Senegal is also in that group. In 2002, Senegal beat France as the French fell apart trying to defend the title they’d won four years earlier.
Scotland has never made it past the group stage, and it won’t be easy this year. Group C also includes Brazil — the fifth time in its last seven appearances Scotland has been drawn with Brazil — and Morocco, which is No. 11 in the FIFA rankings.
The U.S., meanwhile, is in Group D with Australia (the lowest-ranked team in pot 2 of the draw) and Paraguay (the lowest-ranked South American team in the field so far). The Americans also avoided the possibility of facing Italy or Denmark from out of the European playoffs.
AP Entertainment Writer Jonathan Landrum Jr. and Associated Press Writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks with FIFA President Gianni Infantino as they leave after the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
WASHINGTON (AP) — If you listened to the words spoken after the World Cup draw by the various coaches who were at the Kennedy Center on Friday, it would seem impossible for any of them to win next year’s tournament.
Everyone got thrown into the toughest group — or the “Group of Death,” in soccer parlance.
And everyone needs to avoid overlooking any other team and be ready for whatever is to come during the tournament from June 11 to July 19 in the United States, Canada and Mexico during the largest World Cup yet, the first with 48 countries participating (there were 32 last time).
“We need to respect all of the opponents. It’s always going to be difficult,” said U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino, whose squad is in Group D and starts off against Paraguay on June 12, then also will face Australia and a still-undetermined playoff qualifier.
“My message to the players is: We need to compete better than Paraguay; that is going to be difficult. Australia is going to be difficult,” Pochettino said. “And the team that is going to join us is going to be difficult.”
Hmmm. Sense a theme?
There is some version of what is often referred to as “coach speak” under nearly every circumstance and in nearly every sport. Just pay attention to what the men in charge of NFL clubs say day after day during that sport’s season.
It’s the classic playbook: Build up opponents. Don’t let your players get complacent. Don’t let your fans — or the people who hired you and can fire you — think success is guaranteed.
Didier Deschamps, a player on France’s championship team in 1998 and the coach of its title winners in 2018 and runners-up to Argentina in 2022, sounded as worried as anyone else.
Coach of France Didier Deschamps attends the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (Dan Mullan/Pool Photo via AP)
Doesn’t matter that the French are considered one of the favorites — not merely to get out of the round-robin stage but also to once more appear in the final.
“We know this is a very tough group,” Deschamps said Friday. “We cannot rest.”
His country was dropped into Group I alongside Senegal, Norway and a playoff team (those won’t all be set until March).
A little later, Norway’s coach, Ståle Solbakken, for his part, praised the French team as “maybe the strongest in Europe,” and in the next breath — as though perhaps worried someone from another nation might take offense — pointed out: “But there’s two other teams in the group.”
One of which won’t even be known for another three months.
Luis de la Fuente, who led Spain to the 2024 European Championship, finds his team among the World Cup favorites but insisted there is parity in the sport these days.
Spain’s Group H includes Uruguay, Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde.
Brazil’s coach Carlo Ancelotti arrives for the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (Dan Mullan/Pool Photo via AP)
“People think there are easy groups, but it is a very similar level,” the coach said. “This will be a historic World Cup, because there’s an exceptional level all-round. These games force you to play at your best.”
Players can be just as liable to these sorts of pronouncements.
U.S. midfielder Tyler Adams, speaking to reporters on a video call Friday, said it plainly: “There’s no easy game in the World Cup.”
And then he pointed out that during the last World Cup, when the Americans were eliminated in the round of 16, their two hardest games came “against two of the lesser opponents.”
Model Heidi Klum watches as Argentina’s coach Lionel Scaloni returns the World Cup trophy to the stage during the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025 (Mandel Ngan/Pool Photo via AP)
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