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Group A

The opening fixture at the historic Azteca Stadium will replay the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's elimination phase history at the global showpiece includes just one win, secured against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third last-eight berth as hosts. The South African side, 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 fielding an ineligible footballer.

This will represent Korea Republic's eleventh straight World Cup qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished in third place in the Golden Ball award when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. Hong is now their manager and led them without a loss through a far from straightforward qualifying section. The fourth team in Group A will be the victor of a European qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

The Canadian team have qualified for the World Cup on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 brought their first finals goal, it did not deliver their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the best group of players in their history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the group appears depends mostly on whether the Italian national team progress through the European playoff (the remaining three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the group stage in four of the past five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast individuals hoping to play at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having ended up in fourth in their third-round qualification group, were given a major advantage by being selected as a host for the final phase and clinched qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected exclusively from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland return to the finals in 28 years looks a lot like their last outing, when they lost to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti occupy the spot of Norway. Their aim will be to progress to the knockout stage for the very first time after 8 previous group phase exits. Haiti’s sole previous World Cup, in 1974, was notable less for their three losses than for the fate that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing 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 took over as Brazil’s third manager in a qualification process that included a run of three consecutive losses, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualification these days. He has overseen a noticeable upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African sides, capable both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a 100% record.

Pool 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 friendlies. But over the last year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his ideas understood and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against Paraguay, who are playing in their sixth World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a last-eight appearance. Their familiar cautious mindset hasn't changed: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most free-flowing Australia team and their roster is without clear stars, but in spite of an shaky beginning to the third round of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side made it by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their last two fixtures. The pool's fourth team will emerge from the victor of Europe’s playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After back-to-back group-stage eliminations, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more progressive philosophy has brought a vulnerability and the group initially looked like presenting a huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualifying, finishing second behind Argentina in South America. Although they netted only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline 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 live in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever as good as the glorious squad of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. After an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, netting 25 goals without reply.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe lack the star quality of previous Dutch eras, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, consistently appears a more reliable player with his country's side than at club level. They open against the Japanese team, who will play in their eighth successive finals, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian sides in qualification, losing one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia secured of a third straight World Cup berth by topping a manageable qualifying group, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as defensive as certain previous Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 separate scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the European playoff (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 famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are emerging from the shadow of golden 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 successful side in African history, but having not managed to reach the finals 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 defence that allowed just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified undefeated.

A guaranteed place for Oceania essentially meant 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 lost once in a tricky third-round qualifying group, are on a travel ban, potentially