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Pool A

The opening match at the iconic Azteca venue will mirror the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's elimination phase history at the global tournament features just one victory, secured against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third-ever quarter-final berth as tournament hosts. South Africa, coached by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial World Cup since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a win over Lesotho given against them for using an suspended player.

This will represent South Korea's 11th straight World Cup qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished in third place in the Golden Ball award when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. He is now their coach and led them without a loss through a far from straightforward qualification section. The fourth side in Group A will be the winner of a European playoff involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have made it for the global finals on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden goal, it did not deliver their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the most talented group of players in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the draw looks hinges largely on whether the Italian national team make it through the European playoff (the remaining 3 teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the group stage in four of the last five tournaments and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified without defeat from probably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players hoping to feature at their fourth finals. Qatar, having ended up fourth in their third phase qualification section, were given a significant advantage by being chosen as a host for the fourth round and secured progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland return to the finals in 28 years bears a lot like their last outing, when they lost to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti occupy the spot of Norway. Their aim will be to progress to the elimination stage for the very first time after eight previous group-stage exits. Haiti’s sole prior finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that happened to 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 a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualification process that featured a run of three successive defeats, but there is little jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a clear upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the strongest of the north African nations, able both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a 100% win record.

Pool D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a dismal condition, 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 understood and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will begin against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their 6th World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has led to both group-stage exits and a quarter-final appearance. Their familiar cautious mindset has not changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australian side and their roster is without clear superstars, but in spite of an shaky beginning to the third round of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their last two fixtures. The pool's fourth team will emerge from the winner of Europe’s playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After back-to-back group-stage eliminations, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more attacking style has introduced a fragility and the draw initially looked like presenting a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualification, ending up in second place 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, conceded a mere five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of constant 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, head coach Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. Following an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, netting 25 goals and conceding reply.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe do not possess the galacticos of previous Dutch eras, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, consistently appears a more effective player with his country's side than at domestic level. They open against Japan, who will participate in their eighth consecutive finals, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian nations 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 straight finals berth by topping a straightforward qualification group, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as defensive as certain past Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 separate scorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the European playoff (against Ukraine in the semi, 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 iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

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

Egypt are the most successful side in African history, but having not managed to reach the finals during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite fulfilled their potential on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that allowed only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively meant a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who sailed through qualifying, winning five games out of five, netting 29 goals, nine of them by Chris Wood, but they are the lowest-ranked side to have secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated once in a difficult third phase qualifying section, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially