A day before Friday’s World Cup draw, the United States learned something about who they won’t be playing.

In the latest FIFA ranking of men’s national teams released Thursday morning, the Americans were placed in Pot 2, along with seven other countries – Mexico, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Uruguay, Switzerland and Croatia.

The U.S. men’s national team is ranked 15th in the world.

In Pot 1 were host Qatar, Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Spain and Poland.

Senegal, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland, Korea Republic and Tunisia were in Pot 3.

Even though Canada won the Concacaf Octagonal, it was placed in Pot 4 along with Cameroon, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, two international playoff winners and the European playoff victory.

Brazil supplanted Belgium in the top spot of the FIFA rankings. The Belgians dropped to second, ahead of France, Argentina and England in the top five.

The next FIFA ranking will be released on June 23.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.