How could hosts Canada, US and Mexico fare in their World Cup groups?

Canada, Mexico and the United States learned on Friday which teams they will face when the 2026 World Cup kicks off on their shores in June.

Tom Brady, Shaquille O'Neal, Aaron Judge and Wayne Gretzky were tasked with putting together the names that would determine the lineup for the tournament's group stage, which accounts for a significant portion of the games in this huge global sporting event.

As part of this draw, a compendium of North American sports legends revealed which teams the three co-hosts would have to go through if they made the playoffs, in what would be seen as a relatively favorable draw for each of them.

This will be the largest World Cup ever, as 48 teams will compete for the first time. When the tournament was previously held in the United States, in 1994, only 24 countries participated, but at the next tournament in France in 1998, the number of participants increased to 32. This number still remains today.

With so many teams in the mix, Friday's draw in Washington and the entire process behind it provided a lot of information and changes. Even the four aforementioned draw assistants, as well as Rio's hosts Ferdinand and Samantha Johnson, had to pause occasionally to take it all in.

It was easier to digest when looking at the result from the individual teams' point of view, and from the home team's point of view there was one small advantage to the draw format, even beyond the benefit they already get from playing on home soil.

As hosts, Canada, Mexico and the USA also had the automatic privilege of being in Pot 1 alongside the top teams in the competition, meaning a potentially easier route to the knockouts.

Their main consideration then was which teams in pot two – the next ranked teams – would make the home groups, because the team in that pot would likely present them with the toughest challenge.

All three will be happy to get past Croatia and Morocco in pot two and Norway in pot three, who all impressed in qualifying, but there are still some potentially tough games ahead.

Mexico faces a tough matchup in Group A against South Korea, whose star player and captain Son Heung-min recently joined Major League Soccer's Los Angeles, increasing his exposure to the region ahead of the World Cup.

South Korea went undefeated in Asian qualifying, conceding just eight goals in 16 games. This was perhaps the toughest draw for any of the host nations.

Mexico has had the best performance among hosts in recent regional competitions, winning the Nations League in March and the Gold Cup in July.

However, they have only won one friendly since then, played towards the end of 2025 as coach Javier Aguirre tried to figure out what his World Cup squad would look like.

His team opens the tournament at Mexico City's famed Estadio Azteca on June 11, where they take on South Africa, which edged out Nigeria in a close African qualifier.

Group A will be completed by the winner of the UEFA qualifying play-offs in March, when they will be joined by a representative from Denmark, North Macedonia, the Czech Republic or Ireland.

Canada will also face a team that is undefeated and boasts a strong defense in qualifying – Switzerland. It is joined in Group B by 2018 World Cup hosts Qatar, but another potentially tough test could come from another UEFA qualifying contingent that includes four-time world champions Italy.

Italy are expected to qualify for the European play-offs, which will include Northern Ireland, Wales and Bosnia-Herzegovina, as that impressive Norway side are automatically knocked out in qualifying and will be a tough opponent for the Jesse Marsh-coached Canadians.

While their potential opponents would disagree, the US has the easiest draw of the three hosts. As a result, the team, coached by Argentine Mauricio Pochettino, will be under pressure to reach the knockout stages.

They were joined in Group D by the lowest-ranked team from pot two, Australia. The Socceroos enter the Asian qualifying stage where they have lost just once of their 10 games in the final round of qualifying but have won just five to enter the World Cup second in their group behind Japan. The U.S. beat Australia in a friendly earlier this year, as did Paraguay, who joined that group from Pot 3. Promising signs.

As with the other home groups, there is uncertainty over the completion of Group D. The final team will include another UEFA playoff winner, this time from the section featuring Turkey, Romania, Slovakia and Kosovo, but the US will look to its chances against anyone from that European collection.

Host nations remaining in the World Cup after the group stage always make for a better tournament, and Canada, Mexico and the United States will each be confident of that progress thanks to this tie.