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Group A

The opening fixture at the historic Azteca Stadium will mirror the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's knockout stage history at the worldwide tournament includes just one win, achieved 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 quarter-final appearance as tournament hosts. The South African side, coached by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial World Cup since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite having a victory over Lesotho given against them for fielding an ineligible player.

This will mark Korea Republic's 11th straight 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 reached the last four in 2002. He is now their manager and guided them without a loss through a far from straightforward qualifying section. The final team in Group A will be the winner of a UEFA qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have qualified for the World Cup on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 yielded their first finals goal, it did not bring their first point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the most talented group of players in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the group appears depends mostly on whether Italy progress through the European play-off (the remaining 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the initial phase in four of the past five tournaments and were quarter-finalists at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from probably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players hoping to play at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having ended up in fourth in their third phase qualifying group, were given a significant boost by being chosen as a host for the fourth round and secured qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland first World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their last outing, when they lost to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination phase for the first time after eight previous group phase exits. Haiti’s sole previous World Cup, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a drugs test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited traveling support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third manager in a qualification campaign that included a run of three successive defeats, but there is little risk in South American qualification these days. He has overseen a noticeable upturn in form. Semi-finalists 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 100% win record.

Pool D

At the start of last year, the USA seemed in a poor state, suffering defeats to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendlies. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently 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 playing in their sixth World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a record that has led to both group-stage exits and a quarter-final place. Their familiar defensive approach hasn't changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most free-flowing Australian team and their roster is without clear stars, but despite an shaky beginning to the third phase of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their last two fixtures. The pool's final team will come from the victor of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

Following successive group phase eliminations, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The shift to a more attacking philosophy has brought a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like posing a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualification, finishing second behind Argentina in South America. While they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a defence featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a paltry five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever as good as the golden 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 triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, netting 25 goals and conceding reply.

The smallest country ever to reach the finals, Curaçao, were the fourth team picked, however, making the group look a lot far less intimidating than it might have been.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps do not possess the galacticos of previous 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 eighth consecutive World Cup, and were by far the most impressive of the Asian sides in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third straight World Cup berth by topping a manageable qualifying group, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as defensive as certain previous Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 different goalscorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the UEFA play-off (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 famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are emerging from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualifying, scoring the net eight times but conceding 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 failed to qualify during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully fulfilled their potential on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that conceded just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified undefeated.

A reserved place for Oceania essentially 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 FIFA-ranked side to have secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated only once in a difficult third-round qualifying section, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially