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Group A

This initial match at the famous Azteca Stadium will mirror the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's knockout phase record at the worldwide showpiece features just one win, achieved against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be aiming for a third-ever quarter-final appearance as hosts. South Africa, coached by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their first finals since they hosted, ending above Nigeria and Benin despite having a win over Lesotho given against them for fielding an suspended footballer.

This will mark South Korea's eleventh successive finals appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished 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 far from easy qualifying group. The fourth side in Group A will be the winner of a UEFA playoff featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have made it for the World Cup on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 brought their first goal, it did not deliver their first-ever finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably 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 hinges largely on whether Italy progress through the European playoff (the other three teams 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 past 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 groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast individuals aiming to feature at their fourth finals. Qatar, having ended up in fourth in their third phase qualification group, were handed a major advantage by being chosen as a host for the final phase and clinched qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn exclusively from the domestic league.

Pool C

Scotland's first World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their last outing, when they lost to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti occupy the place of Norway. Their aim will be to progress to the elimination stage for the very first time after eight previous group-stage exits. Haiti’s sole prior finals, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a doping test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have restricted traveling support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third manager in a qualifying campaign that featured a streak of three successive defeats, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a noticeable improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African sides, capable both of overwhelming opponents 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 friendly matches. But over the last year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his message understood and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will begin against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their sixth World Cup. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has resulted to both group-stage exits and a quarter-final place. Their familiar cautious approach hasn't changed: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most free-flowing Australian team and their squad is without obvious stars, but in spite of an iffy beginning to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their last two matches. The pool's final team will come from the winner of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After back-to-back group phase eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more attacking style has introduced a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like posing a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualifying, finishing second behind Argentina in South America. While they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline including 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 permanent declinism, where nothing is ever as good as the glorious squad of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control 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 clinical in qualifying, netting 25 goals without none.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps do not possess the galacticos of past Dutch eras, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, consistently appears a more reliable performer with his country's side than at domestic level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will participate in their 8th successive finals, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third consecutive finals berth by dominating a manageable qualifying section, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as defensive as certain previous Tunisian teams; they had a remarkable 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 executed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are emerging from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, scoring the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, scoring easily at times, but also laboring 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 peak 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 defensive unit 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-ranked side to have booked their place in North America next summer. Iran, who lost once in a difficult third phase qualifying group, are on a travel ban, possibly