Earlier today, FIFA approved the procedure that they will use for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Draw that is set to take place December 1st in Moscow. The new procedure is one that is far less complicated than previous World Cup draws.
To start, there will be 4 pots with 8 teams each. All the teams, with the exception of host Russia, will be ordered according to their standing in the October 2017 FIFA World Rankings. From there, the top 7 teams will join Russia in Pot 1. The next 8 highest ranked teams will be in Pot 2, the 8 after that in Pot 3, and the remaining 8 in Pot 4.
The procedure of drawing teams into groups will remain the same. The teams will be drawn from each pot into groups A through H and then slots 1-4. Russia will occupy the A1 slot. There may be two teams from UEFA in the same group, but no other confederation may have two teams drawn in the same group.
The United States still have to qualify for the World Cup by hopefully securing a spot next month. Still, taking a look at the current FIFA World Rankings, you can suspect that unless the USMNT have a meteoric rise in next month’s index, they could likely be in a hypothetical Pot 3 with the likes of teams like Costa Rica, Iran, Iceland, Sweden, Northern Ireland, Croatia or Egypt.