2026 FIFA World Cup Group A (Juan)

The 48 teams at the 2026 FIFA World Cup were split into 16 groups of three, labelled A–P. Group A comprised , and . The first match was played on 8 June 2026, with the last two played concurrently on 14 June. The top two teams, United States and Japan, advanced to the round of 32.
Draw position	Team 	Confederation	Method ofqualification 	Date ofqualification	Finalsappearance	Lastappearance	Previous bestperformance	FIFA Rankings	FIFA Rankings	 	 	 	 		 	 	
Draw position	Team 	Confederation	Method ofqualification 	Date ofqualification	Finalsappearance	Lastappearance	Previous bestperformance	A1 	United States	CONCACAF	Hosts	13 June 2018	12th		Third place ()	16	10
A2 	Japan 	AFC 	AFC third round winners	19 November 2025 	8th 	 	Round of 16 (, , , ) 	24 	24 	 	 	 	 		 	 	
A3 	Slovenia	UEFA 	UEFA play-off winners 	20 November 2025 	3rd 	 	Group stage (, ) 	66 	59 	 	 	 	 		 	 	
==Standings==
Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
United States (H)	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	4
Japan 	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	4
Slovenia 	2	0	0	2	0	3	-3	0
*United States advanced to play against Honduras (runner-up of Group B) in the round of 32.
*Japan advanced to play against Mexico (winner of Group B) in the round of 32.
==Matches==
===United States vs Japan===
This was the first confrontation between these football teams in the World Cups, as well as being the first match of the World Cup. In the first half, no one had opened the scoring until the 61st minute, when scored the first goal of the World Cup. In the 69th minute, Japan scored a goal that turned out to be offside, so the referee disallowed the goal. In the end, Japan scored in the 73rd minute, resulting in a draw after the match ended. In the 81st minute, the Guatemalan referee, Mario Escobar, observed a 's handball in the penalty area, so a penalty kick was awarded to Japan, and was going to kick the ball. However, managed to save the shot, saving the tie.
{| style="font-size:90%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"	 	
 	 	
GK 	1 	Matt Turner
RB 	2 	Caleb Wiley
CB 	3 	Ian Murphy
CB 	4 	Nkosi Tafari
LB 	18 	Shaq Moore 81'
DM 	8 	Aidan Morris
DM 	11 	Timothy Tillman
RW 	7 	Diego Luna
AM 	13 	Duncan McGuire
LW 	17 	Bernard Kamungo 84'
CF 	23 	Brian White 44' 51'
Substitutions: 	Substitutions: 	Substitutions:
FW 	10 	Christian Pulisic (c) 51'
MF 	32 	Aaron Long 84'
Manager: 	Manager: 	Manager:
Gregg Berhalter	Gregg Berhalter	Gregg Berhalter
Man of the match
===United States vs Slovenia===
Another match that has taken place in Group A was between the United States and Slovenia, the second in the group. This World Cup was the third for the Slovenian national team, with their last participation being in 2010 (South Africa). The game started, and everything was going normally until the 14th minute, when Ian Murphy hit the ball with his hand, so Slovenia was awarded a penalty. Žan Karničnik was going to kick the ball, but, when kicking the ball, it traveled over the goal, so it was a goal kick for the United States. Time passed, and in the 29th minute, Žan Karničnik pushed off Diego Luna, so it all resulted in a yellow card and a free kick awarded to the United States. Brian White was going to kick the ball, and scored again, but this time, Pulisic made a scissor kick, and United States got in the way after making the 1-0. In the 81st minute, sealed the victory with a left-footed goal, and the U.S. had already qualified for the round of 32.
{| style="font-size:90%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"	 	
 	 	
GK 	1 	Matt Turner 80'
RB 	2 	Caleb Wiley
CB 	3 	Ian Murphy
CB 	4 	Nkosi Tafari
LB 	18 	Shaq Moore
DM 	8 	Aidan Morris
DM 	11 	Timothy Tillman
RW 	7 	Diego Luna
AM 	13 	Duncan McGuire
LW 	17 	Bernard Kamungo 40'
CF 	10 	Christian Pulisic (c)
Substitutions: 	Substitutions: 	Substitutions:
FW 	9 	Jesús Ferreira 40'
GK 	22 	Drake Callender 80'
Manager: 	Manager: 	Manager:
Gregg Berhalter	Gregg Berhalter	Gregg Berhalter
Man of the match
===Japan vs Slovenia===
This was the last match in this group. Japan and Slovenia would play this match, to decide who would go to the round of 32 and who would go home. Even if Japan had a chance to draw, that would give them two points, because by drawing against the United States, Japan had more of an advantage to get out of the group stage. The match started, and Slovenia played with the same team as the previous time as well as Japan. At the start of the match, everything was going normally, but when the fouls started, Japan had more opportunity to counterattack, despite the fact that was always attentive to the ball. As soon as the second half started, there was a Miha Blažič's tremendous infringement, since he knocked down Takuma Asano, and most of the players, both from Japan and Slovenia got into the discussion. In the end, Chris Beath showed a yellow card to Miha Blažič, Sandi Lovrić, Luka Zahović, Tsuyoshi Watanabe and Koki Machida, because they had gotten into trouble halfway through the game. Japan was awarded a free kick, and was going to kick the ball, and to the surprise of the fans, he scored the winning goal, as and used to do. That goal was more than enough to knock the Slovenian team out of the World Cup, and at the end of the match, Japan advanced, to face , and the United States was going to face . Slovenia went home disappointed, and they could not, at least, repeat the history of , when they could have made history in their greatest attempt.
{| style="font-size:90%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"	 	
 	 	
GK 	1 	Daiya Maekawa
RB 	3 	Shogo Taniguchi
CB 	22 	Koki Machida 47'
CB 	16 	Takehiro Tomiyasu
LB 	5 	Tsuyoshi Watanabe 47'
CM 	6 	Wataru Endō (c)
CM 	7 	Kaoru Mitoma 67'
RW 	10 	Ritsu Dōan
AM 	17 	Ao Tanaka
LW 	18 	Takuma Asano
CF 	9 	Kyogo Furuhashi
Substitutions: 	Substitutions: 	Substitutions:
FW 	16 	Atsuki Ito 67'
  	 	
Manager: 	Manager: 	Manager:
Hajime Moriyasu	Hajime Moriyasu	Hajime Moriyasu
Man of the match
Category:Juan