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Group A

The opening game at the iconic Azteca venue will echo the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's elimination phase history at the worldwide tournament includes just one victory, secured against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that squad and will be targeting a third last-eight appearance as hosts. South Africa, coached by experienced Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after having a win over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an ineligible footballer.

This will mark South Korea's 11th consecutive World Cup qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished in third place in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. He is now their coach and led them unbeaten through a anything but straightforward qualification section. The fourth team in Group A will be the victor of a UEFA qualifying play-off featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have qualified for the World Cup twice and, although Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden finals goal, it did not deliver their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of probably the most talented squad in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the group appears depends mostly on whether the Italian national team progress through the UEFA playoff (the remaining 3 teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have navigated the group stage in four of the past five World Cups and were last-eight participants at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from arguably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players aiming to feature at their fourth finals. Qatar, having finished fourth in their third-round qualifying section, were handed a major boost by being chosen as a host for the final phase and secured progress with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn exclusively from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland's first finals in 28 years looks a lot like their last outing, when they were defeated to the Seleção and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team take the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the elimination stage for the first time after eight prior group phase eliminations. Haiti’s sole previous finals, in 1974, was remembered less for their three losses than for the ordeal that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a doping test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have restricted traveling support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third manager in a qualification process that featured a streak of three consecutive defeats, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a noticeable improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African sides, capable both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter, qualifying with a 100% record.

Group D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a poor state, suffering defeats to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendly matches. But over the last year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his message understood and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their 6th finals. They have secured one game at each of the previous five, a record that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a last-eight appearance. Their familiar cautious approach has not changed: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian side and their squad lacks obvious superstars, but in spite of an iffy 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 emerge from the winner of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After back-to-back group-stage eliminations, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more progressive philosophy has brought a fragility and the draw initially looked like presenting a huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualifying, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. While they netted 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.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever quite successful as the golden squad of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. Following an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, scoring 25 goals and conceding none.

The smallest country ever to reach the finals, the Curaçao team, were the fourth team picked, though, making the group look a lot less intimidating than it could have appeared.

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side maybe do not possess the galacticos of past Dutch generations, but they secured qualification without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, always appears a more reliable performer with his national side than at domestic level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will play in their 8th successive finals, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualification, losing one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia secured of a third straight World Cup berth by topping a straightforward qualifying section, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as defensive as certain previous Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 separate scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the UEFA play-off (against Ukraine in the semi-final, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will create a rematch of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Group G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are emerging from the shadow 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, 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 not managed to qualify during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully done themselves justice on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defence that allowed just twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who cruised through qualification, winning five games out of five, scoring 29 goals, nine of them by Chris Wood, but they are the lowest-ranked side to have booked their place in North America next summer. Team Melli, who were defeated once in a difficult third-round qualification section, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially