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Group A

This first game at the famous Azteca Stadium will mirror the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's elimination phase record at the worldwide showpiece includes just one win, achieved against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. Their coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be aiming for a third quarter-final berth as tournament hosts. The South African side, coached by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial World Cup since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite having a win over Lesotho given against them for using an suspended footballer.

This will mark South Korea's eleventh successive finals qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came in third place in the Best Player award when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. He is now their manager and led them unbeaten through a anything but straightforward qualifying section. The final side in Group A will be the victor of a European qualifying play-off featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

The Canadian team have qualified for the World Cup on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 brought their first goal, it did not bring their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of probably the best squad in their history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the draw appears depends mostly on whether Italy make it through the UEFA play-off (the remaining 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have got through the group stage in four of the last five tournaments and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players aiming to play at their fourth finals. Qatar, having finished fourth in their third-round qualification section, were handed a major advantage by being selected as a tournament host for the final phase and clinched qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn entirely from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland return to the World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their last appearance, when they were defeated to Brazil and Morocco; Haiti occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the knockout phase for the very first time after eight prior group-stage exits. Haiti’s sole previous World Cup, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the fate that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a doping test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited traveling support due to travel restrictions from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third manager in a qualifying campaign that included a run of three successive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a clear improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African sides, able both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a 100% win record.

Pool D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a poor state, losing to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendlies. But over the last year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their 6th World Cup. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a record that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a quarter-final place. Their familiar cautious approach hasn't changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian team and their roster lacks clear stars, but despite an shaky beginning to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their final two matches. The group’s final team will come from the winner of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following back-to-back group-stage exits, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more progressive philosophy has introduced a fragility and the group initially looked like posing a huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations of qualification, finishing in second place behind Argentina in South America. While they netted only 14 goals in 18 games, a defence including Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a mere five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of permanent declinism, where nothing is ever quite good as the glorious squad of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. Following an implausible continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, scoring 25 goals without reply.

The tiniest country ever to qualify, Curaçao, were the fourth team picked, however, making the group look a lot less intimidating than it might have appeared.

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe lack the star quality of previous Dutch eras, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualification, consistently appears a more effective performer with his national side than at club level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will play in their eighth successive World Cup, and were by far the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games across the two groups, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third straight World Cup appearance by dominating a manageable qualification group, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as defensive as certain previous Tunisian teams; they had a remarkable 14 separate scorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the European playoff (against Ukraine in the semi-final, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will create a repeat of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are emerging from the legacy of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, finding the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, finding goals easily at times, but also struggling to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most successful side in African football history, but having failed to qualify during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully fulfilled their potential on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defence that conceded just twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified undefeated.

A reserved place for Oceania essentially equated to a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who cruised through qualifying, winning five games out of five, scoring 29 goals, nine of them by Chris Wood, but they are the lowest FIFA-ranked side to have booked their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated once in a tricky third-round qualifying section, are on a travel ban, potentially