After finalizing the draw for the 2026 World Cup, which will be played in the United States, Mexico and Canada, FIFA announced the days, times and venues of each match yesterday afternoon.
With this announcement, the Argentine national team is now clear about which route and map they must take in the group stage of the next ecumenical event. The reigning world champions have been placed in Group J along with Algeria, Austria and Jordan, an unprecedented group that will force the coaching staff led by Lionel Scaloni to start working on specific details of each rival.
The team debuts Tuesday, June 16 at 10 p.m. against Algeria at Kansas Stadium
Unlike other, more logistically traditional World Cups, this edition has a special calendar and a wide geographical distribution, so Argentina will play two games in the evening for the local public and one in a more usual time slot. The debut will be on Tuesday, June 16, at 10:00 p.m. Argentine hoursagainst Algeria at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. That’s where the road to defending the title begins, in an environment that typically features intense weather and changing temperatures.
The record against the African team is extremely limited: only one game in 2007 ended in a friendly 4-3 in favor of the national team. This game is remembered for two goals from a very young Lionel Messi, in addition to the contributions of Carlos Tevez and Esteban Cambiasso. It will be the first time that both countries meet at a World Cup, forcing us to analyze in detail the Algerian present, its development in Africa and the peculiarities of its physical and vertical style.
Six days later, on Monday, June 22nd at 2 p.mThe national team’s second game against Austria will take place at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas, one of the largest and most modern venues in the competition. The history with the Europeans is also short and goes back exclusively to the last century: a 5-1 win for Argentina in Vienna in 1980 and a 1-1 draw in 1990, again on Austrian soil. There are also no precedents in World Cups or official crosses, making the duel another tactical challenge for the Argentine team.
The last day of the group stage will be on Saturday, June 27 at 11 p.magain in Dallas, and this time against Jordan, the quartet’s most unknown rival. They have never met the national team in friendlies or official competitions, making the encounter a whole new test. It will also mean the closure of a route that, despite the size of the tournament, will have relatively friendly logistics: there are around 800 kilometers between Kansas City and Dallas, which means a flight of about an hour and a half, thus avoiding the long journeys that were feared when the draw was previewed.
The final two dates of Group J will be played at Dallas Stadium against Austria and Jordan
After much speculation, Argentina will ultimately not play in San Francisco, the originally scheduled Group J venue. Instead, the final distribution stated that all of the team’s activities will be focused on the Central Region and the Western Region of the United States, but without reaching the West Coast. With dates, rivals and venues already confirmed, the world champion team can precisely focus their preparation, knowing that their title defense will officially begin under the lights of Kansas City.
On the other hand, their rivals already have more games on their schedule to complete the World Cup campaign.
With this in mind, Austria and Jordan will meet on Wednesday, June 17th at 1 a.m. in the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium for the first time a few hours after the end of the Argentina game.
On the second day, Jordan and Algeria will meet at midnight on Tuesday at Bay Area Stadium in San Francisco.
Finally, about the date, which could have several definitions: while Argentina will face Jordan on Saturday the 27th at 11 p.m., Algeria and Austria will play the other game at Kansas Stadium.
In this way, all matches of the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada are defined with date, time and venue.
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