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Group A

This first match at the historic Azteca Stadium will echo the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's elimination stage history at the worldwide tournament includes just a single victory, secured against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be targeting a third quarter-final appearance as hosts. South Africa, coached by veteran 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 using an suspended player.

It will represent South Korea's eleventh consecutive World Cup qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came in third place in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. Hong is now their manager and led them unbeaten through a anything but easy qualifying group. The fourth side in Group A will be the victor of a UEFA playoff featuring 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, although Qatar 2022 yielded their first finals goal, it did not deliver their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of arguably the most talented 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 draw appears depends mostly on whether the Italian national team make it through the European playoff (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 group stage in four of the past five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat from probably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have individuals hoping to play at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having finished in fourth in their third-round qualification group, were given a major boost by being chosen as a tournament host for the fourth round and secured qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected entirely from the domestic league.

Group C

Scotland first finals in 28 years looks a lot like their previous appearance, when they lost to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; Haiti occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the knockout stage for the very first time after eight prior group phase exits. Haiti’s only prior finals, 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 doping test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited away support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that featured a run of three consecutive losses, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a noticeable improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African nations, capable both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a perfect record.

Group D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a poor condition, losing to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendlies. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his message across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their 6th finals. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has led to both group phase exits and a last-eight place. Their familiar defensive mindset hasn't altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australia team and their squad is without obvious superstars, but despite an iffy start to the third round of Asian qualifying, 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 emerge from the winner of Europe’s playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following 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 fragility and the group initially looked like posing a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualification, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. While they scored 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 mere five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever quite successful as the glorious squad of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. Following an improbable continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, netting 25 goals and conceding reply.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps do not possess the galacticos of previous Dutch generations, but they secured qualification without losing 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 participate in their eighth consecutive World Cup, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games across the two groups, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third consecutive World Cup appearance by topping a straightforward qualifying group, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as dour as some past Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 separate goalscorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the UEFA 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 iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are emerging from the legacy of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualification, finding the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, finding goals 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 reach the finals 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 attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that conceded just twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified unbeaten.

A reserved place for Oceania essentially equated to a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who cruised 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. Iran, who were defeated only once in a difficult third phase qualification section, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly