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Group A

This first game at the iconic Azteca venue will mirror the first game from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's elimination stage history at the worldwide tournament features just one victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they previously hosted in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be targeting a third quarter-final appearance as hosts. The South African side, coached by experienced Belgian manager Hugo Broos, secured their place for their first World Cup since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a win over Lesotho given against them for using an suspended player.

It will represent Korea Republic's eleventh successive finals qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished third in the Best Player voting when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. He is now their coach and guided them unbeaten through a anything but straightforward qualification section. The fourth 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

The Canadian team have qualified for the World Cup on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their first finals goal, it did not bring their first-ever finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably 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 favorable the group appears hinges largely on whether the Italian national team make it through the UEFA playoff (the other 3 teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the initial phase in four of the last five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the last 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, have individuals aiming to play at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having finished fourth in their third phase qualification section, were given a significant boost by being selected as a tournament host for the fourth round and clinched progress with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Pool C

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

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that featured a streak of three successive defeats, but there is little jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a clear improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the strongest of the north African sides, able both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a 100% record.

Pool 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 apparently begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their 6th finals. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has led to both group phase eliminations and a last-eight place. Their familiar defensive approach has not altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most free-flowing Australian side and their roster lacks obvious stars, but despite an iffy start to the third phase of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their last two fixtures. The group’s final team will come from the winner of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After back-to-back group phase eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the feared force of old. The shift to a more attacking philosophy has brought a fragility and the draw initially looked like presenting a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualifying, finishing in second place behind Argentina in South America. While they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a mere five.

Ivory Coast live in a state of constant pessimism, where nothing is ever as successful as the glorious 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 improbable continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, scoring 25 goals and conceding none.

The tiniest country ever to qualify, Curaçao, were the final team picked, though, making the group look a lot far less intimidating than it might have appeared.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side maybe lack the star quality of previous Dutch eras, but they qualified without losing 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 dominant of the Asian sides in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games over the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia secured of a third consecutive World Cup berth by dominating a straightforward qualifying section, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as dour as certain previous Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 separate goalscorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the European play-off (against Ukraine in the semi, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will set up a rematch of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and the Pharaohs are emerging from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualifying, finding the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, finding goals easily at times, but also laboring 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 defence that conceded only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified undefeated.

A guaranteed place for Oceania essentially meant 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 lost only once in a difficult third phase qualification group, are on a travel ban, potentially