World Cup group matches I’d like to watch in Atlanta

The combinations aren’t endless, but there are certainly some exciting possible matches that Atlanta could host in the group stage of next year’s World Cup.

France and Kylian Mbappé vs. Croatia and Luka Modric, a rematch of the 2018 World Cup finals, for example, is a possibility. Reigning champ Argentina would be fun, but it has already played in Atlanta several times.

Atlanta won’t get to host the U.S., Mexico or Canada in the group stages. Those teams’ sites were set months ago. The U.S. will play in Los Angeles, Seattle and L.A. again.

But there are plenty of interesting possibilities. Setting up which matches might bring the most energy to Atlanta, it’s important to know how the draw will work.

The 48 teams that will compete will be randomly drawn into 12 four-team groups on Friday. Each group will contain teams from four tiers: highest ranked by FIFA to lowest ranked.

So, for example, one group will contain a team ranked among the 12 highest by FIFA, followed by another from the next 12 in the rankings, followed by another from the next 12, ending with another from the next 12.

With the exception of those from UEFA (Europe), teams from the same confederation can’t be placed in the same group, so Argentina can’t face Uruguay, both from CONMEBOL, but England could face Scotland, for example.

The pots:

Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria and Australia.

Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

Pot 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand and the winners from European playoff A, B, C and D and FIFA playoff Tournament 1 and 2.

While the groups will be known on Friday, the cities will learn which teams they will host on Saturday.

Atlanta’s matches are scheduled to be played June 15, 18, 21, 24 and 27 in the group stage, along with a knockout-round match on July 1, a Round of 16 match on July 7 and a semifinal on July 15.

Here are a few matches that I think would be exciting if they came to Atlanta:

Netherlands vs. Curacao: Country vs. colony. Curacao, population 150,000, is the smallest nation to qualify for the World Cup. It made it using a system utilized by many nations, including the U.S.: dual nationals. Many of the players on Curacao are Dutch but have family lineage that qualified them to play for Curacao.

England vs. Scotland: This would be an epic match between two countries and teams that don’t like each other, at their mellowest, because of historical, political and religious issues that go back hundreds of years. Their soccer rivalry started with, literally, the world’s first international match in 1872.