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Group A

This opening match at the historic Azteca venue will mirror the first game from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's knockout phase history at the worldwide tournament features just a single victory, secured against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be aiming for a third last-eight berth as tournament hosts. The South African side, led by experienced Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their first finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a victory over Lesotho given against them for fielding an suspended player.

This will represent South Korea's 11th straight finals qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished third in the Best Player award when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. He is now their coach and led them unbeaten through a far from straightforward qualification group. The fourth team in Group A will be the winner of a UEFA playoff involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have made it for the global finals twice and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their first goal, it did not deliver their first-ever finals point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of probably the best squad in their history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the draw appears hinges largely 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, Switzerland have navigated the group stage in four of the last five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified without defeat from arguably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast individuals hoping to play at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having finished fourth in their third-round qualifying group, were given a major boost by being chosen 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 entirely from the domestic league.

Group C

Scotland's return to the World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their previous outing, when they were defeated to the Seleção and Morocco; the Haitian team occupy the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination phase for the first time after 8 previous group phase eliminations. Haiti’s only previous World Cup, in 1974, was notable less for their three losses than for the ordeal that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a doping test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have restricted traveling support due to travel restrictions from the USA.

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

Pool D

Early last year, the USA seemed in a poor state, losing 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 message understood and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against Paraguay, who are competing in their sixth finals. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a record that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a quarter-final place. Their trademark defensive approach has not altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most free-flowing Australia team and their squad lacks clear superstars, but in spite of an shaky start to the third round of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their last two fixtures. The group’s final team will come from the victor of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following back-to-back group-stage exits, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more attacking style has introduced a fragility and the draw initially looked like posing a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualifying, ending up in second place 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, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a paltry five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of constant pessimism, where nothing is ever quite good 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 inspirational. After an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, netting 25 goals and conceding none.

The smallest country ever to reach the finals, Curaçao, were the final team picked, though, making the group look a lot less intimidating than it might have appeared.

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe lack the star quality of past Dutch eras, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, consistently 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 consecutive World Cup, and were by far the most impressive of the Asian sides in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games over the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia secured of a third straight World Cup appearance by dominating a manageable qualifying group, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as dour as some previous Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 different 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 set up a rematch of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and the Pharaohs are emerging from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualifying, scoring the net eight times but letting in 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 golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully fulfilled their potential on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that conceded just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified undefeated.

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