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The home opener will always be the talk of the town for the World Cup's host nation. The opening ceremony, the artists performing and the home nation taking to the pitch to kick off Game 1.
Then, the dust fades, the music settles and the fans depart and there are still two matches to play.
For Team USA, there is a one-week turnaround time between its first two matches and a six-day turnaround before its third. That gives them short but significant time to correct any opening match errors.
Here's what to know about Team USA's upcoming schedule in the group stage.
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Who will Team USA play next?
Team USA's next match will be Friday, June 19 against Australia. This match will be played at Lumen Field in Seattle, with the team's third match being back at SoFi stadium against Turkey.
The U.S. vs. Australia match will also be the only day game for the U.S. during group stage play. It will begin at 3 p.m. ET and 12 p.m. local time.
It's impossible to know for sure the minimum record or tiebreakers that will allow the U.S. to qualify for the knockout stage. That being said, with three teams qualifying, just one win puts the United States in a relatively comfortable spot. The more wins they get, however, the better their seeding will become.
USA Group D match schedule
| Date | Time (ET) | Match | Location |
| Fri, Jun. 12 | 9 p.m. | United States vs. Paraguay | SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, CA) |
| Fri, Jun. 19 | 3 p.m. | United States vs. Australia | Lumen Field (Seattle, WA) |
| Thu, Jun. 25 | 10 p.m. | Turkey vs. United States | SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, CA) |
MORE: Predicting USA's path out of Group D and into World Cup knockouts
How does the World Cup group stage work?
The World Cup group stage features three matches, one against each team in a country's respective group. This is a round-robin format, with the two or three best teams moving onto the knockout stage, depending on the group.
For the USMNT in particular, they will need to finish as one of the top three teams in their group to qualify for the knockout stage. Other groups only get two teams to move on.
In the past, every group has only had two teams qualify for the group stage. This year, though, the World Cup is featuring a whopping 48 teams, meaning that the knockout stage will be expanded from 16 to 32 teams. This means that there is no even number which will work for every group.
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