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Group A

The opening match at the historic Azteca Stadium will mirror the opener from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's elimination phase record at the global showpiece includes just one victory, secured against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. Their coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be targeting a third quarter-final appearance as tournament hosts. South Africa, coached by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for using an suspended footballer.

This will represent South Korea's 11th consecutive World Cup appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished third in the Golden Ball award when South Korea made the last four in 2002. He is now their manager and guided them without a loss through a anything but straightforward qualifying section. The final team in Group A will be the winner of a European playoff involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

The Canadian team have made it for the global finals on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden goal, it did not bring their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of arguably the most talented squad in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the group appears depends mostly on whether Italy make it through the European play-off (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 initial phase in four of the last five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified without defeat from probably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast individuals hoping to play at their fourth finals. Qatar, having finished in fourth in their third phase qualification group, were handed a significant advantage by being selected as a tournament host for the final round and clinched 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 looks a lot like their previous appearance, when they lost to Brazil and Morocco; the Haitian team occupy the place of Norway. Their aim will be to progress to the elimination stage for the first time after 8 prior group-stage exits. Haiti’s sole previous finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a drugs test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have restricted traveling support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that included a streak of three successive 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 look the best of the north African nations, able both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter, qualifying with a perfect win record.

Group D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a dismal 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 message across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against Paraguay, who are playing in their 6th World Cup. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase exits and a quarter-final appearance. Their familiar cautious mindset has not altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most free-flowing Australia team and their roster lacks clear superstars, but despite an iffy beginning to the third phase of Asian qualifying, 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 victor of the European playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following successive group-stage eliminations, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more progressive style has brought a fragility and the group initially looked like posing a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualification, finishing second behind Argentina in South America. Although they netted 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, let in a paltry five.

Côte d’Ivoire exist in a state of constant pessimism, where nothing is ever quite successful as the golden squad of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. Following an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, scoring 25 goals without none.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps lack the star quality of past Dutch generations, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualification, always appears a more effective performer with his national side than at domestic level. They begin against Japan, who will play in their 8th consecutive finals, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third straight finals appearance by topping a manageable qualification section, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as defensive as some past Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 different scorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it 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 stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Group G

Belgium and the Pharaohs are moving on from the legacy of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, scoring the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, finding goals easily 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 peak 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 defensive unit that allowed just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania essentially meant a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who cruised through qualifying, 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 secured their place in North America next summer. Team Melli, who lost only once in a difficult third phase qualifying group, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially