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Pool A

This opening game at the iconic Azteca Stadium will mirror the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's knockout stage history at the worldwide showpiece features just a single victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they previously hosted in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be aiming for a third quarter-final appearance as hosts. The South African side, led by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since they hosted, ending above Nigeria and Benin despite having a win over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an ineligible player.

This will represent South Korea's eleventh consecutive World Cup qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came in third place in the Golden Ball award when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. He is now their manager and led them without a loss through a far from straightforward qualifying group. The fourth 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

Canada have made it for the global finals on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their first finals goal, it did not bring their first-ever 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. The extent to which favorable the group looks hinges largely on whether Italy make it through the UEFA playoff (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 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, have players aiming to feature at their fourth finals. Qatar, having ended up fourth in their third-round qualifying section, were handed a significant boost by being selected 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 Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland's return to the finals in 28 years looks a lot like their previous outing, when they lost to the Seleção and Morocco; the Haitian team take the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the knockout phase for the first time after eight previous group phase exits. Haiti’s sole prior finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a drugs test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have restricted away support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third manager in a qualification campaign that featured a streak of three successive defeats, but there is little jeopardy in South American qualification these days. He has presided over a clear improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African nations, capable both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a perfect win record.

Group D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a dismal condition, suffering defeats to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendlies. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against Paraguay, who are playing in their sixth World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a record that has resulted to both group-stage eliminations and a last-eight appearance. Their trademark cautious approach has not changed: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australia team and their roster is without obvious superstars, but despite an iffy start to the third phase of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their final two matches. The pool's fourth team will emerge from the victor of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After successive group-stage exits, Die Mannschaft are no longer the feared force of old. The shift to a more attacking style has brought a fragility and the group initially looked like presenting a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualifying, finishing in second place behind Argentina in South America. While they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a defence featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a paltry five.

Côte d’Ivoire exist in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever as successful as the golden squad of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. Following an improbable continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, scoring 25 goals without none.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side maybe do not possess the star quality of past Dutch generations, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, consistently appears a more reliable player with his national side than at club level. They begin against Japan, who will play in their 8th consecutive finals, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games over the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third straight finals appearance by topping a manageable qualifying section, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as defensive as some past Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 separate goalscorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the European playoff (against Ukraine in the semi, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will set up a repeat of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Group G

Belgium and the Pharaohs are moving on from the legacy of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualification, finding the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, finding goals 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 qualify during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully done themselves justice on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that conceded only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified undefeated.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively meant a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who sailed through qualification, 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 only once in a difficult third-round qualifying group, are on a travel ban, potentially