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Group A

This first game at the historic Azteca venue will replay the first game from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's elimination phase history at the worldwide tournament includes just a single victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. Their coach, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that squad and will be aiming for a third-ever last-eight berth as tournament hosts. The South African side, led by experienced Belgian manager Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial finals since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a win over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an ineligible player.

It will represent South Korea's 11th consecutive finals appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came in third place in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. He is now their manager and guided them without a loss through a anything but easy qualifying section. The final side in Group A will be the winner of a European playoff involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have made it for the global finals 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 squad in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which favorable the group appears depends mostly on whether Italy progress through the UEFA play-off (the other three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have navigated the group stage in four of the last five tournaments and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players hoping to play at their fourth World Cups. The Qatari team, having finished in fourth in their third phase qualification section, were handed a major advantage by being chosen as a host for the final phase and secured progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland first World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their previous outing, when they lost to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti take the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination phase for the first time after 8 previous group-stage exits. Haiti’s only previous finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three losses than for the ordeal 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 traveling support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that featured a streak of three consecutive defeats, but there is minimal risk in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a clear upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African sides, able both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter, qualifying with a 100% win record.

Group D

At the start of 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 apparently begun to get his ideas across 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 6th World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has led to both group-stage exits and a last-eight appearance. Their trademark cautious approach has not altered: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian side and their squad is without clear stars, but in spite of an iffy start to the third phase of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their final two matches. The pool's fourth team will emerge from the winner of Europe’s playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After back-to-back group-stage eliminations, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more attacking style has brought a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like presenting a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualifying, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. Although they netted 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.

Ivory Coast live in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever quite successful as the golden generation 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 qualification, scoring 25 goals without none.

The smallest country ever to reach the finals, the Curaçao team, 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 galacticos of previous Dutch eras, but they secured qualification without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, always looks a more reliable player with his national side than at club level. They open against Japan, who will participate in their 8th successive 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 phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia secured of a third consecutive finals berth by topping a straightforward qualifying section, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as dour as some past Tunisian teams; they had a remarkable 14 different scorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the European 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 executed 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 inconsistent in qualification, scoring the net eight times but conceding 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 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 world 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 undefeated.

A guaranteed place for Oceania essentially meant a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who sailed through qualification, 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 booked their place in North America next summer. Iran, who lost only once in a difficult third phase qualification group, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially