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Group A

This opening game at the famous Azteca Stadium will replay the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's knockout stage record at the global showpiece includes just one victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. Their coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be aiming for a third quarter-final appearance as hosts. South Africa, coached by experienced Belgian manager Hugo Broos, secured their place for their first finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a win over Lesotho given against them for fielding an suspended footballer.

This will represent South Korea's eleventh successive finals appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came in third place in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their manager and guided them unbeaten through a far from easy qualification section. The final team in Group A will be the victor of a European playoff involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have qualified for the World Cup twice and, although Qatar 2022 brought their maiden finals goal, it did not bring their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the best group of players in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which favorable the draw looks depends mostly on whether Italy progress through the European play-off (the other three contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have got through the group stage in four of the last five tournaments and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified without defeat from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to play at their fourth finals. Qatar, having ended up fourth in their third-round qualifying group, were handed a major advantage by being chosen as a tournament host for the fourth phase and secured progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland's return to the World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their previous appearance, when they were defeated to the Seleção and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team occupy the spot of Norway. Their aim will be to make it to the knockout stage for the first time after eight prior group phase eliminations. Haiti’s sole previous finals, in 1974, was remembered less for their three losses than for the fate that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a doping test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have limited away support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualification campaign that included a streak of three successive defeats, but there is minimal risk in South American qualification these days. He has overseen a noticeable upturn in form. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the strongest of the north African nations, able both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a 100% record.

Pool 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 friendlies. But over the last year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his ideas understood and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against Paraguay, who are competing in their 6th World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a record that has led to both group phase exits and a last-eight place. 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 fluent Australian side and their squad is without obvious stars, but despite an iffy start 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 group’s fourth team will come from the winner of the European playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following successive group-stage exits, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more attacking style has brought a vulnerability and the group initially looked like presenting a massive challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations of qualifying, 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, conceded a paltry five.

Côte d’Ivoire exist in a state of constant pessimism, where nothing is ever as successful as the glorious generation of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved transformative. After an implausible continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, netting 25 goals without none.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side perhaps do not possess the star quality of previous Dutch eras, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, consistently appears a more reliable performer with his national side than at club level. They open against the Japanese team, who will play in their eighth consecutive finals, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualification, 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 berth by topping a manageable qualification section, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as dour as some past Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 separate scorers in qualifying. 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 rematch of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are emerging from the legacy of golden 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 qualify during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice 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 meant they qualified unbeaten.

A reserved 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. Team Melli, who lost once in a difficult third phase qualifying group, are on a travel ban, possibly