PHILADELPHIA – There have been mileposts on Philadelphia’s path to hosting matches at 2026 World Cup that have steadily zoomed past.

This weekend’s marker of progress might as well be an invitation to accelerate through the final months before soccer’s biggest global spectacle arrives.

Friday’s World Cup draw set the 12 groups for next summer’s World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. It established the matchups possible for the six games that will come to Philadelphia, with the schedule to be formally announced on Saturday.

“It’s exciting. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” Union CEO Tim McDermott said at an event hosted by the 2026 Philadelphia World Cup Committee at Stateside Live at the stadium complex. “Now that we’ve had the draw, you feel like, oh,

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