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Group A

The opening fixture at the famous Azteca venue will replay the first game from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's elimination phase record at the global tournament features just one victory, secured against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be targeting a third last-eight berth as tournament hosts. South Africa, led by experienced Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a win over Lesotho given against them for fielding an suspended footballer.

It will mark South Korea's eleventh successive finals appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came third in the Golden Ball award when South Korea made the last four in 2002. He is now their coach and guided them without a loss through a anything but straightforward qualifying group. The fourth 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, although Qatar 2022 brought their first finals goal, it did not bring their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the most talented group of players in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the group appears hinges largely on whether Italy make it through the European playoff (the other 3 teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the initial phase in four of the last five tournaments and were quarter-finalists 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 individuals hoping to play at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having ended up fourth in their third phase qualifying group, were given a significant advantage by being chosen as a host for the fourth phase and secured progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected entirely from the domestic league.

Group C

Scotland's first World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their previous appearance, when they were defeated to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti take the place of Norway. Their aim will be to make it to the knockout phase for the first time after 8 previous group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s sole previous World Cup, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a drugs test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have restricted traveling support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualification campaign that included a streak of three consecutive losses, but there is little jeopardy in South American qualification these days. He has presided over a noticeable improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African nations, able both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a perfect win record.

Group D

Early last year, the United States 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 past year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently begun to get his message across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their 6th finals. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a record that has led to both group phase exits and a quarter-final place. Their familiar cautious mindset has not changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australia team and their squad lacks clear stars, but despite an iffy beginning to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their last two fixtures. The pool's fourth 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 transition to a more attacking philosophy has brought a fragility and the draw initially looked like presenting 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 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, let in a mere 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 assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. After an improbable continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, scoring 25 goals without reply.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side perhaps do not possess the star quality of previous Dutch eras, but they secured qualification 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 begin against the Japanese team, who will participate in their 8th successive finals, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian sides in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games across the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third straight World Cup berth by dominating a manageable qualification section, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as defensive as some previous Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 separate goalscorers in qualification. 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 game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are moving on from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualifying, scoring the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, scoring freely at times, but also struggling to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most decorated side in African history, but having not managed to qualify during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully fulfilled their potential on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that conceded only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified undefeated.

A reserved place for Oceania essentially meant a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who sailed through qualification, winning five games out of five, netting 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. Team Melli, who lost only once in a difficult third phase qualifying group, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially