Mexico has learned which Pot they were placed in as the official FIFA Draw nears

Mexico has learned they will be placed in Pot 1 alongside cohosts Canada and the United States when the official FIFA World Cup Draw takes place next Friday on December 5. The remaining nine teams in the pot are the nine-highest ranked teams according to the FIFA men’s world rankings.

The pots are as follows:

Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany

Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, IR Iran, Korea Republic, Ecuador, Austria, Australia

Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Cȏte d’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa

Pot 4: Jordan, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, European Play-off A,B,C and D, FIFA Play-off Tournament 1 and 2

All of the teams from Pot 1 will then be drawn into groups A-L. Then Pots 2, 3 and 4 will also do the same. As always, there shouldn’t be more than one team in each group from the same federation but that doesn’t apply to UEFA who has 16 teams in the World Cup. For their federation there will not be more than two UEFA teams in each group.

FIFA also announced recently that they put a plan into place to make sure that top-ranked teams do not face each other early on after the group stage. In the past top-ranked countries have faced off in the Round of 16 and/or the Quarterfinals so FIFA made the proper changes, one that has been well-received.

Not only was Mexico put into Pot 1 but they were given the A1 position in Group A. Meanwhile Canada is in B1 and the USA D1. Due to Mexico being assigned A1 there is a big possibility their opponent for the opening match will be from Pot 3.

Here’s the Group format:

A1: Mexico

A2: Pot 3

A3: Pot 2

A4: Pot 4

Usually, A1 vs A2 is designated as Matchday 1 but FIFA has also stated that this order doesn’t exactly guarantee a game schedule as the calendar has not been set. The game schedule will be set the following day after the draw. The teams in Pot 3 are ranked between 29-61 but just because they are ranked much lower than Mexico, currently ranked at 15, that does not mean they will not pose a challenge. Mexico actually lost to Paraguay a week ago in a disappointing match. As explained in a prior article, Mexico has struggled all year long and if they don’t fix their issues there’s a possibility they won’t make it out of their group for the second year in a row. It is best Mexico does not underestimate any of the teams in their groups because any one of them can beat a weakened Mexico side on any given day.

So, Mexico fans, tune in next week on Friday December 5 to find out who Mexico will be facing in the group stage of the World Cup!