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Group A

The opening match at the famous Azteca Stadium will mirror the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's elimination stage record at the worldwide tournament includes just a single win, secured against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be aiming for a third-ever last-eight berth as tournament hosts. The South African side, coached by experienced Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial finals since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for using an suspended player.

It will mark Korea Republic's 11th straight World Cup appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came third in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. He is now their manager and guided them without a loss through a anything but straightforward qualifying group. The fourth 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 twice and, although Qatar 2022 brought their maiden goal, it did not bring their first point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the best squad in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the draw looks depends largely on whether Italy progress through the UEFA playoff (the other 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the initial phase in four of the last five tournaments and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have individuals aiming to feature at their fourth finals. Qatar, having finished in fourth in their third-round qualifying section, were given a major boost by being chosen as a host for the final round and clinched qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland's first World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their previous outing, when they were defeated to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team occupy the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination phase for the very first time after 8 previous group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s only previous World Cup, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the fate that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a drugs test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have limited traveling support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualification campaign that included a run of three consecutive defeats, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualification these days. He has overseen a noticeable upturn in form. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the strongest of the north African nations, capable both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter, qualifying with a perfect win record.

Group D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a poor condition, losing to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendlies. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his message across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against Paraguay, who are competing in their 6th finals. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase exits and a quarter-final place. Their familiar cautious approach has not changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australia team and their squad lacks obvious superstars, but in spite of an shaky start to the third round of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their last two fixtures. The pool's fourth team will come from the victor of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following successive group phase exits, Die Mannschaft are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more attacking philosophy has brought a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like posing a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations of qualifying, ending up second 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, let in a paltry five.

Ivory Coast live in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever quite good as the glorious generation of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. Following an improbable continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, netting 25 goals and conceding none.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side maybe do not possess the galacticos of previous Dutch generations, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, consistently appears a more effective performer with his country's side than at domestic level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will participate in their eighth consecutive finals, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third consecutive World Cup berth by dominating a manageable qualifying section, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as dour as some past Tunisian teams; they had a remarkable 14 different goalscorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the UEFA playoff (against Ukraine in the semi-final, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will set up a repeat of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are emerging from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualification, scoring the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, scoring freely at times, but also laboring to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most successful side in African football history, but having not managed to qualify during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defence that conceded only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified undefeated.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who sailed 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 secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated only once in a difficult third-round qualification group, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly