The much-anticipated draw for the 2026 World Cup took place at the Kennedy Center in D.C. on Friday.

Did Team USA end up with a favorable grouping?

Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Monday, December 8th, 2025.

A total of 48 teams drawn into 12 groups of foreign nations each will compete in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico for the World Cup soccer title next year, representing a significant expansion from 2022, which only had 32 teams.

Heard helped me dig into All Things World Cup. I'm now joined by Seth Bertelny, managing editor

for USA Today's Pro Soccer Wire. Seth, I know that you just stepped away from the draw.

Really appreciate you taking the time to join me on the podcast.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Let's start with the atmosphere at the draw.

USA Today stream the ceremony live and with performances from iconic bands like the village people.

It seemed festive and upbeat.

What's your take of how things went on the ground?

Yeah, it's always a little tense because everybody's waiting for the actual draw to happen,

but it takes about an hour and a half of speeches and performances.

And in today's case, an award for President Trump before we actually get to the teams being selected.

And so it was definitely a festive atmosphere.

Everybody's getting excited.

And the draw is kind of the unofficial kickoff.

When the draw happens, that means that it's getting real.

And so it's only six months away.

And now we know which teams are going to play

each other. And we can really kind of start to break down and dissect all these groups and all

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