The path to glory at next year's football World Cup has now been laid out with Fifa confirming the full match schedule for the first 48-team tournament in history.
Holders Argentina will begin their defense of the trophy against Algeria in Group J in Kansas City on June 16 before facing Austria and Jordan in Dallas. Spain will play their first two Group H fixtures, against debutants Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia, in the air-conditioned Atlanta stadium before facing Uruguay in Guadalajara, Mexico.
England will open their bid against Croatia in the covered Dallas stadium on June 17, before shifting to the northeastern United States for their remaining Group L fixtures. The 1966 winners will take on Ghana in Boston on June 23 and then face Panama at the MetLife Stadium just outside New York City on June 27.
If England top their group they must then go to Atlanta for a last-32 tie on July 1.
In Group I, France will play Senegal at the MetLife Stadium and Norway in Boston, either side of a fixture in Philadelphia against an intercontinental playoff winner.
Meanwhile Brazil, who won the last World Cup staged in the United States in 1994, will meet Morocco at the MetLife Stadium in their first Group C encounter on June 13. Carlo Ancelotti’s team then take on Haiti in Philadelphia on June 19 before a clash with Scotland in Miami on June 24.
For the first time, the draw was done in such a way as to ensure the four highest-ranked nations were kept apart – Spain, Argentina, France and England cannot meet before the semi-finals, if all top their groups.
If the top seeds all win their groups, England could find themselves playing co-hosts Mexico in Mexico City in the last 16 and then Brazil in the quarter-finals, before a semi against Argentina.
Other possible match-ups include France and Germany in the last 16 and a potential meeting between Lionel Messi’s Argentina and Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal in the quarter-finals.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
