On Saturday, the World Cup Draw was held in Washington DC. Despite the draw only deciding the Groups in the group portion of the tournament, it is still a very important event in World Football.

Notably, there were no “groups of death” i.e groups that have multiple superpowers in the same group. All of the best national teams were well spread out. This has made some groups wide open for the taking with interesting competitions for the top 2 spots that get to advance to the knockout stage.

The United States Men’s National Team (14th in FIFA Ranking) is in a group with Paraguay (39th), Australia (26th), and a to be determined spot that will either be Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey. That spot will be given after a playoff in March.

Returning champion Argentina will be in a very light group with Austria, Jordan, and Algeria. However, this is to be taken with a grain of salt, especially remembering Argentina’s upset during the last cup’s group stage courtesy of Saudi Arabia. But realistically Argentina will still cruise to the knockout stage with this group.

World Cup betting Favorites Spain has a slightly more interesting group, with high ranked Uruguay in its group as well, and if Cape Verde or Saudi Arabia (again) can pull one single large upset, Spain could be going home early. Other favorite and powerhouse England is in a similar shape as Spain, with a good team in Croatia in their group, along with consistent CONCACAF team Panama.

I myself am very excited for this World Cup, especially with games that will be happening in the United States.