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Group A

The first match at the iconic Azteca Stadium will mirror the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's knockout phase record at the global showpiece features just one win, achieved against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be aiming for a third last-eight appearance as tournament hosts. South Africa, coached by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a victory over Lesotho given against them for fielding an ineligible footballer.

It will represent South Korea's 11th straight World Cup qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came third in the Golden Ball award when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. He is now their manager and guided them unbeaten through a anything but easy qualifying group. The fourth side in Group A will be the winner of a European playoff featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have made it for the global finals twice and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their first goal, it did not deliver their first point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of probably the best squad in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which favorable the draw appears hinges largely on whether Italy make it through the European play-off (the remaining three contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have got through the initial phase in four of the past five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to play at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having finished fourth in their third phase qualifying group, were handed a major boost by being chosen as a tournament host for the final phase and clinched qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland first World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their last outing, when they were defeated to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; Haiti take the place of Norway. Their aim will be to progress to the elimination stage for the first time after eight prior group phase exits. Haiti’s sole prior finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the fate that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a doping test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have restricted traveling support due to travel restrictions from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third manager in a qualifying process that featured a run of three consecutive defeats, but there is little risk in South American qualification these days. He has overseen 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-attack, securing qualification with a 100% win record.

Pool D

At the start of last year, the USA seemed in a poor state, losing 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 thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will begin against Paraguay, who are competing in their sixth World Cup. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a record that has resulted to both group phase exits and a quarter-final appearance. Their familiar cautious mindset has not altered: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australia team and their roster lacks clear stars, but in spite of an iffy start 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 final two matches. The group’s final team will come from the victor of the European playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After successive group phase exits, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The shift to a more progressive philosophy has introduced a vulnerability and the group initially looked like posing a huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualifying, finishing in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although 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 paltry five.

Côte d’Ivoire 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, manager Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. After an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, netting 25 goals without none.

The smallest country ever to qualify, the Curaçao team, were the fourth team drawn, though, making the group look a lot less intimidating than it could have been.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side maybe lack the galacticos of past Dutch generations, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, always looks a more reliable player with his country's side than at club level. They open against Japan, who will play in their 8th consecutive World Cup, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualification, suffering one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third consecutive World Cup berth by topping a manageable qualifying section, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as dour as some previous Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 separate goalscorers in qualifying. 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 rematch of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are emerging from the legacy of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, finding the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, finding goals freely at times, but also laboring to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most successful side in African history, but having not managed to reach the finals 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 cutting edge, but it was a defence that allowed only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania essentially equated to 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 secured their place in North America next summer. Team Melli, who lost only once in a difficult third-round qualification group, are on a travel ban, possibly