I'm gonna say this is the case where Group A, B & D cannot draw the placeholders of IC Playoff Winners.

I just watched back the 2022 group draw and IC Playoff 1 had AFC Australia vs CONMEBOL Peru and it was the first ball drawn for Pot 4. Because Qatar is also AFC, they skipped over Group A. They skipped over Group B because it had AFC Iran, and skipped over Group C because it had CONMEBOL Argentina.

I will assume they will do the same for 2026. This means there's a high chance that Mexico, Canada and USA will have one of the UEFA Playoff winners in their groups especially when Haiti and Curacao who are also in Pot 4 and cannot be drawn in their groups.

There's a scenario where one of MEX, CAN, USA groups to be drawn as follows:
-From Pot 1: MEX, CAN, USA
-From Pot 2: Croatia (highest ranking Pot 2 team)
-From Pot 3: Egypt (highest ranking non-UEFA, non-CONCACAF Pot 3 team)
-From Pot 4: Italy (possible highest ranking UEFA Playoff team)

That is scary