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Group A

The first game at the famous Azteca Stadium will mirror the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's knockout stage record at the worldwide tournament includes just one win, achieved against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be targeting a third-ever last-eight appearance as hosts. South Africa, coached by experienced Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their first finals since they hosted, ending above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a win over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an suspended footballer.

This will represent Korea Republic's 11th straight World Cup appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came third in the Best Player award when South Korea made the last four in 2002. Hong is now their coach and guided them unbeaten through a far from easy qualification section. The final team in Group A will be the victor of a European playoff featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have qualified for the World Cup on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their first finals goal, it did not deliver their first point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the best group of players in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the group looks depends largely on whether Italy progress through the UEFA playoff (the remaining three contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the group stage in four of the last five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from probably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to feature at their fourth World Cups. The Qatari team, having ended up in fourth in their third phase qualifying group, were handed a major boost by being selected as a tournament host for the fourth phase and secured progress with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected exclusively from the domestic league.

Group C

Scotland's first World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their previous outing, when they lost to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the knockout phase for the first time after 8 previous group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s only previous World Cup, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the fate that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a doping test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have limited away support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

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

Group D

Early last year, the USA 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 past 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 begin against Paraguay, who are competing in their sixth World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has led to both group phase eliminations and a quarter-final appearance. Their familiar cautious approach has not altered: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most free-flowing Australian team and their squad lacks clear stars, but despite an iffy start to the third phase of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their final two matches. The group’s final team will emerge from the winner of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After successive group phase eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more attacking philosophy has brought a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like presenting a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualification, ending up 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, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a mere five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of constant pessimism, 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, manager Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. Following an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, scoring 25 goals without none.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side maybe do not possess the galacticos of previous Dutch generations, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, consistently looks a more reliable player with his national side than at domestic level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will participate in their eighth consecutive finals, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualification, losing one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third consecutive finals berth by topping a manageable qualification section, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as defensive as certain past Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 separate scorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the European play-off (against Ukraine in the semi-final, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will set up a rematch of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the iconic 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 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 failed to reach the finals 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 ensured they qualified unbeaten.

A reserved place for Oceania essentially meant a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who cruised through qualification, winning five games out of five, netting 29 goals, nine of them by Chris Wood, but they are the lowest-ranked side to have secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated once in a difficult third phase qualification section, are on a travel ban, possibly