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Pool A

The opening match at the famous Azteca venue will mirror the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's knockout stage history at the global tournament includes just a single victory, secured against Bulgaria when they previously hosted in 1986. Their coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be targeting a third-ever last-eight berth as hosts. The South African side, coached by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial World Cup since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin even after having a victory over Lesotho given against them for using an suspended player.

It will represent Korea Republic's 11th successive World Cup appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came in third place in the Best Player award when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their manager and led them without a loss through a far from straightforward qualification section. The final team in Group A will be the victor of a European qualifying play-off featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

The Canadian team have qualified for the global finals on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 brought their first finals goal, it did not deliver their first point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of arguably the best squad in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the draw appears hinges largely on whether the Italian national team make it through the UEFA playoff (the remaining three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have got through the group stage in four of the last 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 easiest of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to feature at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having finished in fourth in their third phase qualification section, were handed a major boost by being selected as a host for the final phase and clinched qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected exclusively from the domestic league.

Group C

Scotland's return to the World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their previous outing, when they were defeated to the Seleção and Morocco; the Haitian team occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination stage for the very first time after 8 previous group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s only previous World Cup, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that befell 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 restricted away support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third manager in a qualification campaign that included a run of three consecutive losses, but there is minimal risk in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a noticeable improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the strongest of the north African nations, capable both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a 100% win record.

Group D

At the start of 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 seemingly begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against Paraguay, who are playing in their 6th finals. They have secured one game at each of the previous five, a record that has led to both group-stage exits and a last-eight place. Their trademark 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 squad lacks obvious stars, but despite an shaky start to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their final two fixtures. The pool's final team will come from the victor of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following back-to-back group phase eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more progressive style has brought a fragility and the draw initially looked like posing a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualifying, finishing in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although 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 permanent declinism, where nothing is ever as 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 improbable continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, netting 25 goals without none.

The tiniest country ever to reach the finals, the Curaçao team, were the fourth team picked, though, 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 eras, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, consistently appears a more reliable performer with his country's side than at club level. They open against the Japanese team, who will play in their eighth consecutive World Cup, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third consecutive World Cup berth by dominating a straightforward qualification section, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as defensive as certain previous Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 different 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 rematch of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Group G

Belgium and Egypt are emerging from the shadow 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 laboring to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most decorated side in African history, but having failed to reach the finals during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite fulfilled their potential on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defence that allowed just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively 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 booked their place in North America next summer. Team Melli, who were defeated once in a tricky third-round qualifying group, are on a travel ban, potentially