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Alexi Lalas Soccer Analyst The 2026 FIFA World Cup group stage is over, and as I said to Zlatan on air: This is the end of the chapter, not the end of the book. We've still got a lot of the book to read, but this was a beefy chapter — historically beefy, with a lot of soccer but also a lot of great moments off the field.
But it's at the end of this chapter and moving that things get real, real serious. The bracket is set, and now all 32 teams can start to dream about their path to the final.
In the spirit of that, I've gone ahead and filled out my bracket. Will the U.S. advance to the round of 16? Will we get a rematch of France and Argentina in the final? Let's dive in:
The Bracket
The talent in the upper left quadrant made picking a winner nearly impossible to pick the final, but we got there with France and Colombia. I've been talking Colombia up since before the tournament started, so I feel I have to back them. And after their result against Portugal, I feel much better about it, but it would still be incredible for that to happen.
But even I can not confidently say Colombia will beat France, the most impressive team of the group stage, in a final scenario. First, Kylian Mbappé was the star. Then Ousmane Dembélé was the star. They're deep, everyone's scoring, they're changing and there is just a wealth of talent to choose from.
How Far Will The U.S. Go?
(Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
As I said before the tournament: we should win the round of 32. You win the group, and now you're in the round of 32 against a team you should beat, which is exactly what's happening here. Then you get into the round of 16, where we've always been, and we're going to come up against a team that is on our level or some people think is better than us. And whether that's a Senegal or a Belgium, now you're going to have to really step up.
Then you're in ratified air. If it ultimately ends up being Spain in that quarterfinal there … oof. That's a hard one. That would be the moment in American soccer history if they were able to beat a team like Spain in the quarterfinals. It's a different proposition, walking out for the round of 16 against Belgium, as opposed to walking out for a quarterfinal game against Spain.
If it's somehow Portugal, I'll take that all day. I would feel more confident in the U.S. going through to the semifinals in that scenario than us against someone like Spain.
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