The United States became the final team in the March international window, alongside CONCACAF rivals Mexico, to qualify directly for the 2022 World Cup.
With just three spots left to fill, the World Cup draw is moving forward full steam ahead on Friday, April 1 with 29 teams and three placeholders allotted for the three berths that remain to be decided in June.
So with the group stage draw just hours away, how is the USA seeded compared to other teams? That is determined by the FIFA World Rankings issued on March 31. Since the formula for determining the FIFA World Rankings is public knowledge, the final pot designations can be figured out in advance of the official release by FIFA.
Below is a full rundown of the pots that will include the United States, Canada and Mexico, according to a number of early reports:
MORE: Which teams are in the 2022 World Cup draw?
#USMNT goes into Pot 2 for Fridayโs World Cup drawโฆ
Pot 1: ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ง๐ท๐ง๐ช๐ซ๐ท๐ฆ๐ท๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ๐ช๐ธ๐ต๐น
Pot 2: ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฒ๐ฝ๐บ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐จ๐ญ๐ญ๐ท๐บ๐พ
Pot 3: ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฏ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฆ๐ท๐ธ๐ต๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ท๐น๐ณ
Pot 4: ๐จ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฒ๐ช๐จ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ญ + 3 playoff winners…
– ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ/๐บ๐ฆ/๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ
– ๐ฆ๐บ/๐ฆ๐ช/๐ต๐ช
– ๐จ๐ท/๐ณ๐ฟโ Paul Carr (@PaulCarr) March 31, 2022
The pots for Fridayโs World Cup draw โณ pic.twitter.com/EvIed1csuA
โ B/R Football (@brfootball) March 31, 2022
How does the World Cup draw work?
The FIFA World Cup draw will take place April 1 at 12 p.m. ET from Doha, Qatar.
All participating teams will be placed into four pots based on relative strength according to the FIFA rankings. During the draw, one team will be selected from each of the pots to make up each of the eight groups. The idea is that all the groups are constructed to be as competitively balanced as possible.
Still, every tournament comes with new wrinkles.
For the 2022 World Cup, COVID-19 delays throughout the World Cup cycle over the last two years have caused a logjam in the soccer calendar, seeing games pushed back. That resulted in qualifying delays, leading to the intercontinental playoffs to be pushed back to the summer. In addition, the war in Ukraine saw Russia disqualified from contention, while Ukraine’s qualifying bracket was postponed until the summer as well.
As a result, for purposes of the draw, FIFA has designated placeholders for those three berths and placed them in Pot 4. That designation may not ultimately turn out to be an actual reflection of the strength and ranking of the teams that will emerge in June.
Teams like Ukraine, Wales, or Peru would have earned a different pot status had the playoffs been decided before the draw. As it stands, there are sure to be one or two groups that will be a tad more difficult depending on whether these teams ultimately qualify. But there were few options at FIFA’s disposal.
Which pot is USA in 2022 FIFA World Cup draw?
The United States had an outside chance to find itself in Pot 1 of the World Cup draw, but that would have required a number of results that did not come to pass.
As a result, the United States will be drawn from Pot 2 at the 2022 FIFA World Cup draw.
Ranked 13th in the FIFA World Rankings in February, the results from the March qualifying window โ a draw in Mexico, a win against Panama and a loss to Costa Rica โ won’t affect the USA’s world ranking enough to see it move up or down to Pot 1 or Pot 3.
MORE: USA qualifies for 2022 World Cup despite loss to Costa Rica
Canada pot and Mexico pot for World Cup draw
Mexico, which ranked 12th in the February FIFA World Rankings and finished second in the CONCACAF qualifying table, will also join the USA in Pot 2. El Tri wasn’t able to make the leap into Pot 1, while a cavernous drop to Pot 3 was never realistic.
Canada, meanwhile, will be selected from Pot 4. Despite Les Rouges topping the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying table and securing a place at its first World Cup in 36 years, a final day defeat to Panama saw the team drop into Pot 4 at the last second, with a chance to move into Pot 3 evaporated.
As FIFA rankings are used to determine pots, Canada’s rise up the World Rankings has been remarkable over the past few months, but due to a low starting position, it will take a while for the nation to climb high enough up the list where it can pull out of a Pot 4 standing.
MORE: Canada falls to Panama to close out World Cup qualifying
World Cup draw pots
Below is the full breakdown of all eight teams in each 2022 World Cup draw pot.
As the host nation, Qatar is automatically placed in Pot 1 regardless of its World Ranking, and will be drawn automatically into Group A. This is done so that the host nation can be scheduled to play the opening match of the tournament, and in the process it benefits from the favorable treatment in addition to being an automatic qualifier for the tournament.
Behind Qatar in Group A, the other seven groups will be filled out with a Pot 1 participant from Group B through Group H. The same process will repeat itself with teams from Pots 2-4.
No group can have two nations from the same region, except when it comes to Europe. Since there are 13 European nations in the draw, there can be a maximum of two teams from Europe in each group. If a team is drawn, but cannot be accommodated in the group due to geographic restrictions, it is shuffled along to the next group.
MORE: Intercontinental playoff schedule and teams
Pot 1 – 2022 FIFA World Cup draw
| Nation | February FIFA Ranking |
World Cup apps (last) |
|---|---|---|
| Qatar* | 52 | โ |
| Belgium | 1 | 14 (2018) |
| Brazil | 2 | 22 (2018) |
| France | 3 | 16 (2018) |
| Argentina | 4 | 18 (2018) |
| England | 5 | 16 (2018) |
| Spain | 7 | 16 (2018) |
| Portugal | 8 | 8 (2018) |
*Host nation
Pot 2 – 2022 FIFA World Cup draw
| Nation | February FIFA Ranking |
World Cup apps (last) |
|---|---|---|
| Denmark | 9 | 6 (2018) |
| Netherlands | 10 | 11 (2014) |
| Germany | 11 | 20 (2018) |
| Mexico | 12 | 17 (2018) |
| USA | 13 | 11 (2014) |
| Switzerland | 14 | 12 (2018) |
| Croatia | 15 | 6 (2018) |
| Uruguay | 16 | 14 (2018) |
Pot 3 – 2022 FIFA World Cup draw
| Nation | February FIFA Ranking |
World Cup apps (last) |
|---|---|---|
| Senegal | 18 | 3 (2018) |
| Iran | 21 | 6 (2018) |
| Japan | 23 | 7 (2018) |
| Morocco | 24 | 6 (2018) |
| Serbia | 25 | 13 (2018) |
| Poland | 28 | 9 (2018) |
| South Korea | 29 | 11 (2018) |
| Tunisia | 36 | 6 (2018) |
Pot 4 – 2022 FIFA World Cup draw
| Nation | February FIFA Ranking |
World Cup apps (last) |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | 33 | 2 (1986) |
| Cameroon | 38 | 8 (2014) |
| Ecuador | 44 | 4 (2014) |
| Saudi Arabia | 53 | 6 (2018) |
| Ghana | 61 | 4 (2014) |
| European Playoff (Scotland, Ukraine, Wales) |
โ | โ |
| Intercont’l Playoff (Australia, UAE, Peru) |
โ | โ |
| Intercont’l Playoff (New Zealand, Costa Rica) |
โ | โ |