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Group A

The opening match at the historic Azteca Stadium will echo the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's knockout stage record at the global showpiece features just a single victory, secured against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that squad and will be targeting a third-ever quarter-final berth as tournament hosts. South Africa, led by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, secured their place for their first finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a victory over Lesotho given against them for fielding an ineligible footballer.

This will represent Korea Republic's eleventh straight World Cup appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished third in the Best Player award when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their manager and guided them without a loss through a far from easy qualification section. The final 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

The Canadian team have made it for the global finals on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 brought their first goal, it did not bring their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the best squad in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the group looks hinges mostly on whether Italy progress through the European playoff (the remaining 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have got through the initial phase in four of the last five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified without defeat from arguably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast individuals hoping to feature at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having ended up fourth in their third phase qualification group, were handed a major advantage by being selected as a tournament host for the final phase and clinched progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected exclusively from the domestic league.

Group C

Scotland's first World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their previous appearance, when they were defeated to Brazil and Morocco; Haiti take the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the elimination stage for the very first time after eight prior group phase exits. Haiti’s sole prior World Cup, in 1974, was notable less for their three losses than for the ordeal that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a doping test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited away support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third manager in a qualification campaign that featured a run of three consecutive losses, but there is little jeopardy in South American qualification these days. He has overseen a clear improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the strongest of the north African sides, capable both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a 100% win record.

Group D

Early 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 friendly matches. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently begun to get his message across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against Paraguay, who are competing in their sixth finals. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a last-eight place. Their familiar cautious mindset has not changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most free-flowing Australia side and their squad is without obvious superstars, but despite an iffy beginning to the third phase of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their final two fixtures. The group’s fourth team will emerge from the winner of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following successive group phase eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more progressive style has introduced a fragility and the draw initially looked like posing a massive challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualifying, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. Although they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a defence featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a paltry five.

Ivory Coast live in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever as successful as the golden squad of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. After an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, scoring 25 goals and conceding reply.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe lack the star quality of past Dutch generations, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, consistently appears a more reliable player with his country's side than at domestic level. They begin against Japan, 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 over the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third consecutive finals appearance by topping a straightforward qualifying group, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as dour as some previous Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 different goalscorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the UEFA play-off (against Ukraine in the semi, 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 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 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 global 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 reserved place for Oceania essentially equated to a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who cruised through qualifying, 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. Iran, who were defeated once in a difficult third-round qualification section, are on a travel ban, possibly