The winner of the March play-off between Iran, New Zealand, Switzerland, Belgium, Wales, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy and Northern Ireland will play alongside the United States next June. The Inglewood venue will host eight World Cup matches in 28 days, starting with .
Mexico and South Africa will be playing in a rematch of the opening match of the 2010 South Africa tournament. It concludes on July 19th in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with the finals beginning at 3pm ET.
The schedule for the largest and most complex World Cup in history, unveiled Saturday at the Hilton Capital Hotel in Washington, does not bode well for Southern California companies hoping to profit from the tournament. Two of the five games in the group stage will be against Iran, whose citizens are banned from traveling to the United States by the Trump administration. Southern California has the highest concentration of Iranians outside of Iran, but those fans will not be booking flights or hotels, reducing the economic impact on the region.
Following the USA vs. Paraguay game, SoFi will host two Group G games: Iran vs. New Zealand on June 15th and Iran vs. Belgium on June 21st. Meanwhile, Switzerland will play the winners of the European playoffs on June 15th. The U.S. then returns to Inglewood on June 25 to face the winner of the March playoff between Slovakia, Kosovo, Turkey and Romania.
In addition to the five first round matches, SoFi will host three knockout stage matches: two round of 32 matches and one quarterfinal match. The most attractive teams that could play in Inglewood in the Round of 32 include Mexico, South Korea, Canada, Spain, Austria and Algeria. Reigning champion Argentina also could come to Southern California in the second round if it stumbles in group play.
MetLife Stadium in New Jersey had perhaps the best schedule of the 16 World Cup venues. In addition to the final, the stadium will also host group play matches between Brazil, Germany, France and England.
Defending champions Argentina will play their first match in Kansas City before finishing the group stage in Dallas, while tournament favorites Spain will play their first two matches in Atlanta and the final match in Guadalajara.
