19 Nov 2025

First Touch '26

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Remembering a Random World Cup Legend:

Medical doctor, “anti-athlete,” creative genius, and soccer revolutionary, Socrates!

Headlines From the World Cup Qualifying:

World Cup qualifying has wrapped for 42 nations, with only playoffs remaining in March. The heart of the action was in Europe, where eleven nations in total qualified over the last week.

At the top end, nearly every European giant qualified without much agony. Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, and France all join England in the 2026 field. Only one big name faces a playoff — Italy, who have missed two straight World Cups, lost yet again to a dominant Norway side and face the UEFA Playoff qualification route.

Elsewhere, qualifiers went mostly as expected. Austria, Croatia, and Switzerland won groups where they were favored. The one surprise came from Scotland, where a match that will live for generations through song and story took place and a Scott Tominay wondergoal led the Scottish to victory over Denmark and qualification for the World Cup.

Qualification in Conacaf also went as one would expected, meaning of course sheer chaos and amazing underdog stories. Curacao became the smallest nation in history to qualify for the World Cup, and Haiti dramatically returns to the World Cup for the first time in decades despite having to play all of their home matches at a neutral site. Panama also qualified for another World Cup.

Amazingly, this means Costa Rica and Honduras have missed the World Cup. The expanded field seemed to ensure the Tico’s, consistently one of North America’s strongest sides, would qualify. Jamaica will need to qualify through the Playoff, where tiny Suriname also has a chance to make its first ever World Cup.

Elsewhere, additional berths to the FIFA Intercontinental Playoff were secured. Iraq saw off the UAE to earn the Asian berth, while D.R. Congo became the surprise winner of a four-team playoff including Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabono.

Perhaps the most talked about moment of the week came not from a qualifier, but a playoff aspirant. Ireland’s Troy Parrott scored a hat trick that concluded with a last second winner to send Ireland past Hungary into the UEFA Playoffs.

Headlines From the USMNT:

Has the U.S. Men’s National Team found their groove? After some increasingly encouraging camps, the USMNT dispatched Paraguay 2-1 and absolutely throttled a highly-touted Uruguay side 5-1.

Pochettino was insistent that this was the U.S. Men’s National Team, but the Uruguay match especially featured some less renown names. MLS stars Sebastian Berhalter and Alex Freeman absolutely shone through on a pitch full of players from the World’s biggest clubs, while Gio Reyna’s sterling return with a goal and assist was the talking point from the U.S.’s clear victory over Paraguay.

What is clear is Pochettino’s system is taking hold, no matter the players. The U.S. press is creating transition opportunities against some of the world’s best, and the off-ball movement is easily breaking the opponent’s press and creating opportunities in the final third.

The question now is…who is the USMNT? The best performances yet under Poch didn’t include Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, Richards, Robinson, or Weah. Is this just a coincidence, or is it possible that players like Max Arfsten and Sebastian Berhalter perform better in this system?

One thing seems clear…the USMNT is flatter. What was featured against Uruguay was the ability of some of MLS’s best and recent MLS homegrowns to go toe-to-toe and outperform players from the top clubs in the world. It puts Pochettino’s roster selections moving forward squarely in the limelight.

Headlines From Off the Pitch:

One of the biggest logistical challenges for the 2026 World Cup, international visas to enter the U.S., has received a response from the federal government. World Cup ticket holders will be provided priority and “skip the line” for visas and U.S. embassies and consulates will bolster staffing.

At the same press conference where Donald Trump announced the visa program, he again reiterated his threat to move matches from cities he deems unsafe. The threat remains relatively undefined, still, and the immense difficulty in doing so likely prevents any such move, no matter the President’s motivation.

We’re less than three weeks from the World Cup Draw, surprisingly moved from an anticipated event to the Lincoln Center in Washington D.C. The move, done at the behest of President Trump, includes a rent-free agreement and led to the cancellation of multiple paid and ticketed events.

World Cup Tickets Update:

Each week First Touch ‘26 will provide an update on the best way to purchase tickets to the 2026 World Cup.

Phase two of the FIFA World Cup Lottery is now in process! This phase introduced an additional one million tickets, and an exclusive window for residents of Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.

The first timeslots were awarded for November 17th, but more lottery winners are anticipated, so continue to check your email. If you do receive a timeslot, CAPTCHA errors have been reported, with a recommended troubleshooting of “just reload the CAPTCHA a bunch of times.”

The D.R. Congo remains alive for qualification to the World Cup for the second time, the first coming as Zaire and the first sub-Saharan nation to qualify (due to qualifying restrictions imposed by FIFA).

That appearance as Zaire started with an impressive but unlocky loss against Scotland, but descended into chaos when the President’s traveling entourage spent up the player’s wages and mutiny ensued.

D.R. Congo may qualify again, but now…Nigeria is claiming its players practiced Voodoo to win the penalty shootout?

Nigeria head coach Eric Chelle started an altercation with the Congolese staff at the end of the match, and repeated claims that the managerial staff and players were practicing some form of Voodoo.

Let’s make it clear…nothing was happening. This is a brutal miss for Nigeria, one of the titans of Africa, to miss an expanded World Cup field. Emotions were high, and Chelle has since apologized.

We hope the Congolese players, however, can enjoy their soccer on the pitch this time around, without external distractions.

Thing We're Excited About:

The Intercontinental Playoffs! Happening next March, UEFA and FIFA will both feature separate tournaments to earn the remaining six berths in the World Cup.

The UEFA Playoff Format…well lets just say its sixteen teams, four berths, and let’s save the actual format for next March. In the meantime, we can be hyped about the participants! We of course are dreaming of Irish supporters filling stadiums across the country, and of course Italy is attempting to stave off a third straight World Cup qualifying disaster.

With only four spots, the mix of World Cup regulars like Sweden, Denmark, and Poland, and potential Cinderella stories from Kosovo, Northern Ireland, and North Macedonia ensures daily drama.

From the rest of the world we’ll see two berths from six nations including Iraq, New Caledonia, DR Congo, Bolivia, Suriname, and Jamaica, all competing in Mexico. For nearly all of these nations, the opportunity for a rare World Cup berth promises some of the heights of human emotion to be on display.

Level Up:

Every week we identify an international player each week that has “Leveled Up” their game in advance of the 2026 World Cup. This week’s winner is Germany’s and Red Bull Leipzig’s Assan Ouedraogo.

Ouedraogo’s Germany was a dream. Two minutes into his first cap, Ouedraogo scored his first goal. It was a continuation of his stardom in the Germany kit, having featured throughout his “Die Mannschaft” youth career, including his star turn at a U17 World Cup.

However, it’s in the past few months that Ouedraogo has taken off as a pro. The 19-year-old central midfielder barely featured in his first year with Leipzig after transferring from second division Schalke, but has garnered five goal contributions in his last seven matches to earn his debut and turn in the spotlight.

Ouedraogo is a prototypical box-to-box behemoth, both physically imposing and technically gifted, beating his opponents with pace, passing, and the vision of an advanced playmaker. His undeniable gifts make him one of the world’s foremost wonderkids, and his potential for breaking out at the 2026 World Cup is massive.

Allocate your points wisely, Assan!

Qualified Teams (so far):

Here are the countries who have booked their spot at the final tournament, so far!

U.S.A, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Japan, Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Australia, New Zealand, Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Morocco, Tunisia, Cape Verde, Ghana, South Africa, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Egypt, England, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Portugal, The Netherlands, Germany, Croatia, France, Spain, Switzerland, Scotland, Belgium, Curacao, Panama, Haiti

November 19, 2025 — Newsletter #13