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Group A

The opening fixture at the historic Azteca Stadium will echo the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's knockout phase history at the worldwide tournament features just a single win, secured against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be aiming for a third-ever last-eight berth as hosts. South Africa, led by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their first finals since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a win over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an suspended player.

This will represent Korea Republic's 11th consecutive World Cup appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished third in the Best Player voting when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their manager and guided them unbeaten through a anything but easy qualifying group. The fourth side in Group A will be the victor of a European qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have qualified for the World Cup twice and, while Qatar 2022 brought their first goal, it did not deliver their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the best group of players in their history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which favorable the draw appears hinges largely on whether the Italian national team progress through the UEFA play-off (the other 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have got through the initial phase in four of the last five World Cups and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to feature at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having finished in fourth in their third phase qualification group, were handed a significant 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 squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland return to the World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their last appearance, when they were defeated to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team take the spot of Norway. Their aim will be to make it to the knockout stage for the very first time after 8 previous group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s sole previous finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a drugs test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have restricted away support due to travel restrictions from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that featured a run of three successive defeats, but there is little risk in South American qualification these days. He has presided over a noticeable improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African nations, able both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a perfect win record.

Group D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a dismal state, suffering defeats 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 start against Paraguay, who are competing in their 6th World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group-stage eliminations and a last-eight appearance. Their trademark defensive approach hasn't altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australia side and their squad is without obvious stars, but despite an iffy beginning to the third phase of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their last two fixtures. The group’s fourth team will come from the winner of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After successive group-stage eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more progressive philosophy has introduced a fragility and the group initially looked like posing a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualifying, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. Although 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 paltry five.

Ivory Coast live in a state of permanent declinism, where nothing is ever as good as the golden 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 implausible continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, netting 25 goals without none.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps do not possess the star quality of previous Dutch eras, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, consistently looks a more effective performer with his national side than at club level. They open against the Japanese team, who will play in their 8th successive finals, and were by far the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualification, losing one of their 16 games across the two groups, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third straight World Cup berth by topping a straightforward 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 staggering 14 different goalscorers in qualifying. 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 set up a repeat of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are moving on from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualifying, finding the net eight times but conceding 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 not managed to reach the finals during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully done themselves justice on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that allowed only 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, 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-round qualification section, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly