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Pool A

The opening match at the historic Azteca Stadium will echo the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's elimination phase history at the global tournament features just a single win, secured against Bulgaria when they previously hosted in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be aiming for a third quarter-final appearance as hosts. South Africa, led by experienced Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite having a win over Lesotho given against them for using an suspended footballer.

This will represent Korea Republic's 11th straight World Cup qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and finished third in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea made the last four in 2002. He is now their manager and guided them without a loss through a far from straightforward qualifying group. 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.

Group B

The Canadian team have qualified for the World Cup twice and, while Qatar 2022 brought their first goal, it did not bring their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of probably the best group of players in their history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the draw looks depends mostly on whether the Italian national team make it through the European play-off (the other 3 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 last five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players aiming to feature at their fourth finals. Qatar, having finished in fourth in their third-round qualifying section, were handed a significant 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 entire squad is selected exclusively from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland first World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their previous appearance, when they lost to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team take the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the elimination phase for the first time after 8 previous group-stage exits. Haiti’s sole prior World Cup, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the fate that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a doping test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited away support due to travel restrictions from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that featured a run of three consecutive defeats, but there is little risk in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a noticeable improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African nations, able both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a perfect record.

Pool D

Early last year, the USA seemed in a dismal condition, losing 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 message 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 6th finals. They have secured one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has led to both group phase eliminations and a quarter-final appearance. Their familiar defensive approach hasn't altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian side and their squad lacks obvious superstars, but despite an shaky start to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their last two fixtures. The group’s fourth team will come from the victor of the European playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After back-to-back group-stage exits, Die Mannschaft are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more attacking style has brought a fragility and the draw initially looked like posing a huge 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 featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, let in a paltry five.

Ivory Coast live in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever quite good 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, netting 25 goals without reply.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side perhaps do not possess the star quality of past Dutch eras, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, always appears a more effective performer with his country's side than at club level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will play in their 8th successive World Cup, and were by far the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third consecutive finals appearance by dominating a straightforward qualification group, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as defensive as some past Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 different scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the European playoff (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 performed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and the Pharaohs are moving on from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualifying, finding the net eight times but conceding 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 successful side in African football 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 global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that allowed just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who cruised 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 secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who lost only once in a tricky third-round qualifying group, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly