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Group A

The opening match at the iconic Azteca venue will replay the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's knockout stage history at the global showpiece includes just a single win, secured against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that squad and will be aiming for a third-ever quarter-final berth as hosts. South Africa, led by experienced Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their first finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a win over Lesotho awarded against them for using an suspended footballer.

This will mark Korea Republic's 11th successive World Cup qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and finished third in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. Hong is now their manager and guided them without a loss through a far from easy qualifying group. The final team in Group A will be the winner of a European qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

The Canadian team have qualified for the World Cup on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden finals goal, it did not deliver their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the best squad in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the group appears hinges mostly on whether the Italian national team make it through the European play-off (the remaining three 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 past five World Cups and were last-eight participants at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified without defeat from probably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players aiming to play at their fourth World Cups. The Qatari team, having finished fourth in their third phase qualification section, were given a significant boost by being chosen as a tournament host for the final round and secured progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland's first finals in 28 years bears a lot like their previous outing, when they lost to the Seleção and Morocco; the Haitian team take the spot of Norway. Their aim will be to progress to the knockout phase for the first time after eight prior group phase eliminations. Haiti’s sole prior 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 drugs test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being sent back. 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 qualifying process that included a streak of three consecutive defeats, but there is minimal risk in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a clear upturn in form. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African sides, able both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter, qualifying with a 100% win record.

Group D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a dismal state, losing 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 apparently begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their 6th finals. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a record that has resulted to both group phase exits and a quarter-final place. Their familiar defensive approach hasn't changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most free-flowing Australia team and their squad is without obvious superstars, but in spite of an iffy beginning to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their last two fixtures. The group’s fourth team will emerge from the winner of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After back-to-back group-stage exits, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more attacking style has brought a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like presenting a huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualification, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. Although 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 mere five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of constant pessimism, 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 inspirational. After an implausible continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, netting 25 goals and conceding none.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps lack the star quality of previous Dutch eras, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, consistently appears a more effective player with his national side than at club level. They open against the Japanese team, who will participate in their eighth successive finals, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian sides in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia secured of a third consecutive World Cup berth by topping a straightforward qualifying group, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as dour as certain previous Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 separate scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the UEFA play-off (against Ukraine in the semi-final, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will create a repeat of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are emerging from the legacy of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualifying, finding the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, scoring freely at times, but also laboring to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most decorated side in African history, but having failed to qualify during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defence that conceded just twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified unbeaten.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who sailed 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 lost once in a difficult third phase qualifying group, are on a travel ban, possibly