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Pool A

This opening game at the iconic Azteca Stadium will replay the opener from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's knockout stage record at the global showpiece features just a single victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they previously hosted in 1986. Their coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be aiming for a third-ever last-eight berth as tournament hosts. The South African side, led by experienced Belgian manager Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial finals since they hosted, ending above Nigeria and Benin even after having a victory over Lesotho given against them for using an ineligible player.

It will represent Korea Republic's 11th straight World Cup appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came third in the Best Player award when South Korea made the last four in 2002. Hong is now their manager and led them unbeaten through a far from straightforward qualifying group. The fourth team in Group A will be the winner of a UEFA playoff involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have made it for the global finals twice and, while Qatar 2022 brought their maiden goal, it did not bring their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the most talented squad in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the group appears hinges mostly on whether Italy progress through the UEFA play-off (the other three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland 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 booked their ticket unbeaten from probably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players aiming to play at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having ended up fourth in their third-round qualification group, were given a significant advantage by being chosen as a host for the final round and clinched qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected exclusively from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland's return to the finals in 28 years bears a lot like their last appearance, when they were defeated to Brazil and Morocco; Haiti take the place of Norway. Their aim will be to make it to the elimination stage for the very first time after 8 previous group phase eliminations. Haiti’s sole prior World Cup, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a doping test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have limited away support due to travel restrictions from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying campaign that included a run of three consecutive losses, but there is little jeopardy in South American qualification these days. He has presided over a clear upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African nations, able both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a 100% record.

Pool D

At the start of last year, the USA seemed in a dismal condition, suffering defeats to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendly matches. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his message across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their 6th finals. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a record that has led to both group-stage eliminations and a quarter-final appearance. Their familiar cautious approach has not altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

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

Group E

After successive group-stage exits, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more progressive style has brought a fragility and the draw initially looked like presenting a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualification, finishing second behind Argentina in South America. Although they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, let in a paltry five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of permanent pessimism, 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 success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, scoring 25 goals and conceding none.

The tiniest country ever to qualify, the Curaçao team, were the final team drawn, though, making the group look a lot far less daunting than it might have been.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe do not possess the galacticos of previous Dutch generations, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualification, consistently appears a more effective player with his country's side than at club level. They open against Japan, who will participate in their 8th successive World Cup, and were by far the most impressive of the Asian sides in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third consecutive finals berth by dominating a manageable qualifying group, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as defensive as certain previous Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 different scorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the European play-off (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

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are emerging from the legacy of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualifying, scoring the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, scoring freely at times, but also struggling to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most decorated side in African history, but having failed to reach the finals during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defensive unit that conceded only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified undefeated.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who cruised through qualifying, winning five games out of five, netting 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 phase qualification section, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly