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Group A

The first game at the historic Azteca Stadium will echo the first game from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's elimination phase history at the global showpiece features just one victory, secured against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third quarter-final berth as hosts. The South African side, led by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial World Cup since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite having a win over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an suspended footballer.

This will represent South Korea's eleventh consecutive finals appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and finished third in the Best Player voting when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. He is now their manager and led them unbeaten through a far from 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, although Qatar 2022 brought their maiden finals goal, it did not bring their first point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the most talented squad in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the group looks depends mostly on whether Italy make it through the UEFA play-off (the remaining 3 teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have got through the initial phase in four of the last five World Cups and were last-eight participants at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified without defeat from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players aiming to play at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having finished in fourth in their third-round qualifying section, were handed a major boost by being chosen as a host for the fourth round and secured qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn entirely from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland's first World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their last outing, 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 prior group-stage exits. Haiti’s sole 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 drugs 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 campaign that included a streak of three successive losses, but there is minimal risk in South American qualification these days. He has presided over a clear improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the strongest of the north African nations, able both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a 100% win record.

Group D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a poor 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 across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against Paraguay, who are competing in their 6th World Cup. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has led to both group-stage eliminations and a quarter-final place. Their trademark defensive mindset hasn't altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australia team and their squad is without obvious stars, but in spite of an iffy beginning 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 emerge from the victor of the European playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After back-to-back group phase eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more progressive philosophy has brought a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like posing a massive challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualifying, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. While they netted only 14 goals in 18 games, a defence including 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 permanent declinism, 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. After an implausible continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, netting 25 goals and conceding reply.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe lack the star quality of past Dutch eras, but they secured qualification without losing and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, always looks a more reliable performer with his national side than at club level. They open against the Japanese team, who will participate in their 8th successive World Cup, and were by far the most impressive of the Asian sides in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games across the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third straight World Cup appearance by topping a manageable qualifying section, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as defensive as some previous Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 separate goalscorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the UEFA playoff (against Ukraine in the semi-final, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will set up a repeat of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are moving on from the legacy 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 struggling to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most decorated side in African football history, but having failed to qualify 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 unbeaten.

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