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Group A

This first match at the iconic Azteca venue will mirror the opener from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's elimination stage history at the global tournament includes just a single victory, secured against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be aiming for a third quarter-final appearance as tournament hosts. The South African side, led by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their first finals since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a victory over Lesotho given against them for using an suspended footballer.

This will mark South Korea's 11th straight World Cup appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came in third place in the Best Player award when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. Hong is now their coach and led them without a loss through a anything but straightforward qualification group. The final side 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

Canada have made it for the World Cup on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden goal, it did not deliver their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of arguably the most talented squad in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the draw looks hinges mostly on whether Italy progress through the UEFA playoff (the other 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have navigated the initial phase in four of the past five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from arguably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players aiming to feature at their fourth finals. Qatar, having finished fourth in their third phase qualifying section, were given a major advantage by being chosen as a tournament host for the final round and secured progress with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn entirely from the domestic league.

Pool C

Scotland's return to the World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their previous 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 knockout stage for the very first time after eight previous group phase eliminations. 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 drugs test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have restricted traveling support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualification process that included a streak of three consecutive losses, but there is little jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a noticeable improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African nations, capable both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter, qualifying with a perfect win record.

Pool D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a poor condition, suffering defeats 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 seemingly 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 competing in their sixth finals. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has resulted to both group-stage eliminations and a quarter-final place. Their trademark defensive mindset hasn't altered: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian side and their roster is without obvious stars, but despite an iffy beginning to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their last two matches. The group’s fourth team will emerge from the winner of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

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

Ivory Coast live in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever as good as the glorious generation of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved transformative. Following an improbable continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, scoring 25 goals and conceding none.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side perhaps do not possess the galacticos of previous Dutch generations, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualification, always appears a more effective player with his country's side than at domestic level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will participate in their 8th consecutive World Cup, and were by far the most impressive of the Asian sides in qualification, losing one of their 16 games across the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third consecutive World Cup appearance by dominating a manageable qualifying group, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as dour as certain past Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 different scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the European playoff (against Ukraine in the semi-final, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will create a repeat of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are moving on from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualification, 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 decorated side in African football history, but having not managed to qualify during their golden 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 defence that allowed only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified undefeated.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively meant a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who sailed 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 booked their place in North America next summer. Team Melli, who lost once in a difficult third phase qualification group, are on a travel ban, potentially