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Pool A

The opening fixture at the famous Azteca Stadium will mirror the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's elimination phase history at the worldwide tournament features just one win, secured against Bulgaria when they previously hosted in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that squad and will be aiming for a third quarter-final appearance as tournament hosts. South Africa, led by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial finals since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a win over Lesotho given against them for using an ineligible footballer.

It will represent South Korea's 11th straight finals appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished third in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. He is now their coach and led them unbeaten through a anything but easy qualification section. The fourth side in Group A will be the winner of a European qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

The Canadian team have qualified for the World Cup twice and, although Qatar 2022 brought their first finals goal, it did not bring their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the best squad in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the draw appears depends mostly on whether the Italian national team progress through the UEFA playoff (the remaining 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have navigated the group stage in four of the past five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast individuals aiming to feature at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having finished in fourth in their third phase qualification group, were given a major 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 squad is selected entirely from the domestic league.

Pool C

Scotland's first World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their last appearance, when they were defeated to the Seleção and Morocco; the Haitian team occupy the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the knockout phase for the first time after 8 previous group-stage exits. Haiti’s only previous finals, in 1974, was remembered less for their three losses than for the fate that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a doping test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited traveling support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third manager in a qualifying process that included a run of three successive defeats, but there is minimal risk in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a clear improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African sides, capable both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a perfect record.

Group D

Early last year, the USA seemed in a poor condition, losing 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 apparently begun to get his message understood and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their sixth finals. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a record that has resulted to both group-stage eliminations and a quarter-final appearance. Their familiar defensive mindset hasn't altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

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

Group E

Following successive group-stage exits, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more attacking style has brought a fragility and the group initially looked like presenting a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations 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, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a paltry five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of permanent declinism, where nothing is ever as good as the glorious generation of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control 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, scoring 25 goals without none.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe do not possess the star quality of previous Dutch generations, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, always appears a more effective performer with his country's side than at club level. They begin against Japan, who will play in their 8th consecutive World Cup, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian sides in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games across the two groups, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third straight finals berth by topping a straightforward qualifying group, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as defensive as some past Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 different scorers in qualification. 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 set up a repeat of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and the Pharaohs are moving on from the legacy of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualification, finding the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, scoring easily at times, but also laboring 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 golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice on the world 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 unbeaten.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who cruised through qualification, winning five games out of five, scoring 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 tricky third phase qualification group, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly