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Group A

The initial game at the famous Azteca venue will replay the opener from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's knockout phase history at the worldwide tournament features just a single win, secured against Bulgaria when they previously hosted in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third quarter-final berth as hosts. South Africa, led by experienced Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their first finals since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin despite having a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an ineligible footballer.

It will represent South Korea's eleventh successive World Cup appearance. Icon 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. Hong is now their coach and led them without a loss through a far from easy qualifying group. The final team in Group A will be the victor of a UEFA playoff featuring 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, although Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden finals goal, it did not bring their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of arguably the best squad in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the group looks hinges mostly on whether Italy make it through the European playoff (the remaining 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have got through the group stage in four of the last five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to feature at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having finished fourth in their third-round qualifying group, were handed a major advantage by being chosen as a host for the fourth phase and clinched progress with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected entirely from the domestic league.

Group C

Scotland first World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their last appearance, when they lost to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team take the spot of Norway. Their aim will be to make it to the knockout phase for the first time after 8 prior group phase eliminations. Haiti’s sole prior finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the fate 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 traveling support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third manager in a qualification process that included a streak of three successive defeats, but there is little risk in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a noticeable upturn in form. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the strongest of the north African nations, capable both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter, qualifying with a perfect win record.

Pool D

Early last year, the USA seemed in a poor state, suffering defeats 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 seemingly begun to get his message understood and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will begin against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their sixth World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase exits and a last-eight place. Their familiar cautious mindset has not changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most free-flowing Australia side and their roster lacks obvious superstars, but despite an iffy start to the third phase of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their last two fixtures. The pool's fourth team will emerge from the winner of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

Following successive group-stage eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more attacking philosophy has introduced a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like posing a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualification, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. While 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 live in a state of constant pessimism, where nothing is ever quite 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 success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, scoring 25 goals without none.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps do not possess the star quality of previous Dutch generations, but they secured qualification without losing and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, always 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 8th successive finals, 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.

Tunisia made sure of a third straight finals berth by dominating a straightforward qualification group, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as defensive as some past Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 different scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress 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 performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Group G

Belgium and Egypt are moving on from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, scoring 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 football history, but having failed to reach the finals during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite fulfilled their potential on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defence that conceded only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified undefeated.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively meant a spot at the finals for New Zealand, 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 booked their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated only once in a tricky third phase qualifying section, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially