Matchups set for Philly’s five group stage World Cup contests

FIFA has revealed the full schedule for the FIFA World Cup and Philly now knows which teams will be coming for the five group stage games at Lincoln Financial Field next summer Group stage all times are ET June at p m Group E C te d Ivoire vs Ecuador June at p m Group C Brazil vs Haiti June at p m Group I France vs Iraq Bolivia Suriname June at p m Group E Curacao vs C te d Ivoire June at p m Group L Croatia vs Ghana Round of July p m Winner of Match in Boston vs Winner of Match in New York New Jersey Here s how the full tournament schedule looks It s also worth looking at the games at Boston s Gillette Stadium and East Rutherford s Metlife given the close proximity Courtesy of FIFA The Linc which will go by Philadelphia Stadium for the tournament due to FIFA s sponsorship rules will host two previous World Cup winners in Brazil and France who have won the tournament five and two times respectively We are excited because these are first off incredibly storied powerhouse teams explained Philadelphia Soccer s host city executive Meg Kane The opportunity of France association member and Real Madrid superstar forward Kylian Mbappe playing in the World Cup in Philadelphia is extraordinary France s opponent will be decided with a qualification playoff series in March where the winner between Bolivia and Suriname will face Iraq for a spot in the tournament Brazil has won the World Cup the the greater part times and Philly already received a sample of what the country s fan base is like during last summer s FIFA Club World Cup which had four Brazilian clubs playing in South Philly Much of the fan bases of those teams travelled in from various parts of the Northeast U S We loved Brazilian fans this year Kane explained Their potency and enthusiasm and the way that they just embraced the city was something that was so exciting whether they were Flamengo or Botafogo or Palmeiras it was such a unique experience Their opponents will be Haiti which should come as welcome news to fans of Philadelphia Union midfielder Danley Jean Jacques and members of the Haitian locality in the city Mount Airy resident Steve Jules was born in Haiti and attended Friday s watch party for the draw at Stateside Live He commented watching Haiti in the World Cup which the nation hasn t experienced since the club last qualified in would fulfill a lifelong dream It s good to see soccer in Philadelphia and to see we have such a ravenous hungry scene willing to help and show the love of soccer he stated Haiti and Iran are both presently under a full expedition ban by the Trump administration How that will line up with FIFA and the administration s initiative to prioritize U S visa appointments for World Cup ticket holders is murky Obviously we can only control what we can control and we cannot necessarily control what is happening at the federal level Kane stated Philadelphia Soccer will absolutely be prepared though to welcome any and all fans from Haiti or any and all fans from across the United States of Haitian descent that want to come and celebrate their organization coming back to the World Cup for the first time in a very long time We are a welcoming city We are a World Heritage City and it is our absolute pleasure to welcome anyone from any country anywhere to come celebrate with us city representative Jazelle Jones added C te d Ivoire Croatia Ecuador and Ghana should bring a strong combination of World Cup pedigree and local presence as well with a combined World Cup appearances between them Cura ao the smallest nation to ever play at the World Cup brings a Cinderella storyline to the tournament As for the July contest we ll get into the chances of the U S playing here in a bit hold on Kane says that the dream scenario would be France returning to face four-time champion Germany which also checks the strong local presence box for Philly If you could have two powerhouses that are playing on July Fourth it would be spectacular and a great way for us to really lead into the Welcome America celebration on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway that evening Kane noted There are a couple scenarios that could put the U S crew in Philly for the July encounter but they are ones that Kane the host committee and American soccer fans would prefer not happen There was only one path for the U S men s national club to reach Philadelphia They have to finish third in their group Kane announced We would like that to not happen we d like the U S men s national association to finish first in their group The USMNT will first face Paraguay a band they beat - in a friendly at Chester s Subaru Park last month on Friday June in Los Angeles They next face Australia who they defeated in October in Seattle on June Lastly it s a June match back in LA against the winner of UEFA Playoff C either Kosovo Romania Slovakia or Turkey Turkey is the highest ranked of all anticipated opponents and beat the U S in June At the pitfall of courting overconfidence It s a very favorable draw for the U S I don t think we could have really questioned for a better draw announced Nick Custodio vice president of the Philly chapter of the U S supporters group the American Outlaws We avoided chosen of the trap games in there like Norway or Italy So I think we re very solid National association and Bournemouth midfielder Tyler Adams stated he s taking no opponent for granted though There s no easy encounter in the World Cup In fact I think a few of the hardest games in the last World Cup were against lesser opponents he disclosed For us moving forward we need to prepare in the right way But it s fun knowing that we ve played particular of these opponents before Without having to play qualifiers for the tournament because they are co-hosting it coach Mauricio Pochettino and his gang have had to instill a sense of competition and edginess to keep them from getting complacent playing exhibition games Part of that has come from playing teams like Paraguay Turkey and Uruguay who never really play with an exhibition mindset They were friendlies while also they weren t very friendly mentioned Charlotte FC defender Tim Ream one of the national unit s veteran players And now you add in the heightened aggression and experience of a World Cup and they re all finals they all mean something now Everything is going to be ramped up exponentially The post Matchups set for Philly s five group stage World Cup contests appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY