For the United States, this match has a special meaning. After an irregular run in recent championships, being absent in 2018 and competitive but limited in 2022, the US national team arrives at ‘its’ World Cup with the promise of a generation that has matured in Europe and with a project that aims to consolidate itself definitively among the greats. The pressure is enormous, but so is the opportunity: rarely has a host nation had so much young talent and so much expectation around it.

The 1994 World Cup, with the USA as host, was the ‘boom’ of soccer. Now, however, it is going through a period of recession: the ‘Stars and Stripes’ failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, went home empty-handed from three of the last four editions of the Gold Cup and fell in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Nations League.

They sought to make a splash with the signing of Pochettino, which, a year later, coinciding with the switch to a back three, is beginning to bear fruit. They have good players, especially at full-back and in the three-quarter position. Almost all of them are athletic… but somewhat anarchic. Their handicap will be to give regularity to the offensive flow generated by Pulisic, Tillman, Weah… and to find a ‘9’ (Pepi or Balogun) to finish it off.

The ‘Kangaroos’ have improved with their inclusion in the Asian zone, moving away from an oceanic zone where they always had it easy and where it is difficult to progress due to the superiority of their footballing nation with respect to the context. They usually play with a three-man defence to take advantage of the strength of their stoppers. Their players were always brought up in the Premier League.

It has no stars, that’s for sure. Its most advanced striker is usually Mohamed Toure and it may lack more renowned players as they had in the past, such as Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell or Mark Viduca. In this sense, the prestige of Australian soccer has declined, although collectively they are still reliable, as Argentina found out in 2022 with a narrow victory.

The ‘Albirroja’ always has competitive teams, as it showed against Spain in 2010. Paraguay does not have as many stars as before (Chilavert, Gamarra, Cardozo…), but it does have players of great regularity in their clubs, such as Gustavo Gomez (Palmeiras, Brazil), Diego Gomez (Brighton) or Cubas (Vancouver Whitecaps, MLS).

However, Julio Cesar Enciso and Miguel Almiron could be their two most powerful names at present, even though Almiron already has a long career in the English Premier League with Newcastle (although he has now moved to Atlanta United in MLS). Paraguay are always tough. They are difficult to beat. It’s not good news to play against them.

Play-off

The fourth-placed team in Group D will come from the play-off between Turkey, Slovakia, Romania and Kosovo

This is Group D: matches and teams

• United States
• Australia
• Paraguay
• Play-off: Turkey, Slovakia, Romania and Kosovo

Schedule and match times

Saturday, December 6 is marked in red on the calendar, as FIFA will announce the days, times and stadiums for all the matches in the tournament. It will then be known the order of its group, the city in which it will debut and the possible trips in case of advancing. This is key information to understand the true path that the host nation will face and will begin to draw its path to the decisive rounds.