USA World Cup 2022 soccer fixtures: Dates, kick-off times and latest team news for Qatar

After failing to qualify for Russia 2018, the USA are now back for the 2022 World Cup with a vengeance, with their second game of the tournament against England on Friday.

They started their campaign with a 1-1 draw with Wales, Gareth Bale cancelling out Timothy Weah's 36th-minute opener.

US coach Gregg Berhalter said afterwards that Wales' switch to a more direct style after half-time was difficult for his side to contain. "They have a big team and they made it very difficult. They stepped up the pressure," he said. "But I thought the guys handled it well. We kept it up to the end, it was a hard-fought game and we left everything out there."

Next up is Gareth Southgate's England, coming the day after Thanks Giving celebrations in America and around the world.

There will be a strong Premier League contingent in the US side, with Chelsea's Christian Pulisic and Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner joined by the Fulham duo of Antonee Robinson and Tim Ream.

Leeds' Brenden Aaronson and Tyler Adams join them in the set-up, with the latter hoping to skipper the side to a famous win on Friday.

"It would mean a lot," the 23-year-old captain said as the US look to maintain their unbeaten World Cup record against England, which includes a famous 1-0 win in 1950 and 1-1 draw 60 years later.

Group stage fixtures

USA 1 Wales 1, Monday November 21

England vs USA: Friday November 25, 7pm (GMT), 10pm local time, 2pm (ET), 1pm (CT) and 11am (PT) (Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor)

Iran vs USA: Tuesday November 29, 7pm (GMT), 10pm local time, 2pm (ET), 1pm (CT) and 11am (PT) (Al Thumama Stadium, Doha)

Latest USA news from Qatar

United States boss Gregg Berhalter called England a "formidable opponent" and praised Gareth Southgate to the hilt - despite being ignoring by the England manager ahead of Friday's World Cup clash.

An impressive 6-2 victory against Iran in Monday's Group B opener means Southgate's men will seal progress to the last 16 with a match to spare if they beat the US in Al Khor.

The States head into Friday's Al Bayt Stadium encounter looking to build on their 1-1 draw with Wales but Berhalter is wary of the threat posed by England, who he called a "scary" prospect in the build-up.

"He's done a great job with his team. They got off to a great start and they're a formidable opponent. It's going to be a difficult game for us."

The United States have defied Fifa’s edict to avoid contentious issues outside football at the World Cup finals and shown solidarity with the gay community, criminalised in Qatar, by redesigning their federation crest in rainbow colours at their training base.

The stance on gay rights, at odds with Fifa’s order to squads to “focus on the football” was announced by head coach Gregg Berhalter. The crest is in a media briefing room at the team’s training ground, Al Gharafa stadium in north Doha.

The question of how to show solidarity in Qatar with marginalised groups, especially LGBT, has been a thorny issue for teams ahead of the tournament in a country where homosexuality is illegal.

USA's Group B opponents

England made a winning start to their 2022 World Cup campaign with an emphatic 6-2 win over Iran.

Bukayo Saka scored twice in his first major tournament appearance since missing his spot-kick in last year's European Championship final defeat to Italy while Marcus Rashford scored within minutes of coming on in a thumping victory that Jude Bellingham, Raheem Sterling and Jack Grealish also scored in.

Having finished runners-up at last summer's Euros and reached the semi-finals in Russia four years ago, England are among the favourites to triumph in Qatar.

Wales reached the World Cup finals in dramatic style via the qualifying play-offs, after beating an impassioned Ukraine side in Cardiff in June. Victory for Wales' talent-studded golden generation booked them a trip to the nation's second ever World Cup finals – their first since 1958.

Whilst England are the favourites and Wales could cause group upset for runners-up spot, Iran are the underdogs of Group B. Although a Fifa ranking of 22 suggests they are by no means one of the weakest sides in the competition statistically, preparations have been marred by infighting while head coach Dragan Skocic has been replaced by former manager Carlos Queiroz, who oversaw the team's group stage knock-out in Russia.

World Cup schedule

If USA were to win Group B

The winners of Group B will play the runners-up of Group A – Qatar, Holland, Ecuador, and Senegal – with the Afcon winners their most likely opponents.

France are favourites to win Group D, over Denmark, Tunisia and Australia, and would face the Group C runner-up out of Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico or Poland to win the chance to face USA in the quarter-finals, should Berhalter's men make it out of the last-16 knock-out round.

If USA reached the semi-finals, they could meet either Belgium or Portugal, strong contenders in Group F and H.

If USA were to finish as runners-up in Group B

This would set up a clash between the winner of Group A, and if USA were to beat Holland, they could face Argentina or Denmark in the quarter-finals.

In this scenario, should USA make it to the semi-finals, their opponents might be one of either Spain, Germany, or Brazil, the cream of the crop from Groups E and G, to set up a possible final against France, Belgium, or Portugal in Lusail.

Quarter-final dates

The first two quarter-finals will take place on Friday, December 9, at 3pm and 7pm, and will be played at Education City Stadium and Lusail Iconic Stadium. The remaining quarter-finals are on Saturday, December 10, at 3pm and 7pm, and will be played at Al Thumama Stadium and Al Bayt Stadium.

Semi-final dates

The semi-finals will take place on Tuesday, December 13 and Wednesday, December 14, at Lusail Iconic Stadium and Al Bayt Stadium, with both matches taking place at 7pm.

Final

The World Cup final will take place on Sunday, December 18 at 3pm at Lusail Iconic Stadium.

Who is in the USA squad?

Berhalter has named a 26-man squad for the tournament, and with an average age of 25 years and 175 days, it is the second youngest of any teams in Qatar. It can be found in full here.