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Group A

The first match at the historic Azteca Stadium will echo the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's knockout stage record at the global tournament features just one victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third-ever quarter-final berth as hosts. The South African side, coached by experienced Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial finals since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after having a victory over Lesotho given against them for fielding an suspended player.

It will mark Korea Republic's eleventh consecutive finals qualification. 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. He is now their coach and guided them unbeaten through a far from straightforward qualifying group. The final team in Group A will be the victor of a UEFA qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have qualified for the World Cup on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 yielded their first goal, it did not deliver their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the best group of players in their history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the group appears depends mostly on whether Italy progress through the UEFA play-off (the other three contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have got through the initial phase in four of the past five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players hoping to feature at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having finished fourth in their third phase qualification group, were given a major boost by being selected as a tournament host for the final phase and secured qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn exclusively from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland return to the finals in 28 years bears a lot like their last appearance, when they were defeated to the Seleção and Morocco; the Haitian team take the spot 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 sole previous finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the fate that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a doping test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have restricted away support due to travel restrictions from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualification campaign that featured a streak of three successive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a noticeable improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the strongest of the north African sides, capable both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a perfect record.

Pool D

At the start of last year, the USA seemed in a dismal state, suffering defeats to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendlies. But over the last year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently begun to get his ideas understood and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their 6th World Cup. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a record that has resulted to both group phase exits and a quarter-final place. Their familiar defensive mindset hasn't changed: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian team and their roster lacks clear stars, but despite an shaky start to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their last two matches. The group’s final team will emerge from the winner of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following successive group phase exits, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more attacking philosophy has brought a fragility and the draw initially looked like presenting a massive challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualification, finishing second behind Argentina in South America. Although 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 good as the golden generation of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved transformative. After an improbable continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, netting 25 goals without none.

The tiniest country ever to reach the finals, the Curaçao team, were the final team picked, though, making the group look a lot far less intimidating than it could have appeared.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side maybe lack the star quality of previous Dutch generations, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualification, consistently looks a more reliable performer with his country's side than at domestic level. They open against the Japanese team, who will participate in their eighth successive World Cup, and were by far the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games over the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third straight finals berth by dominating a manageable qualification section, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as defensive as some previous Tunisian teams; they had a remarkable 14 different goalscorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the European play-off (against Ukraine in the semi-final, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will create a rematch of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Group G

Belgium and the Pharaohs are moving on from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualification, scoring 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 history, but having failed to qualify during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully fulfilled their potential on the world 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 reserved place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who sailed 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 booked their place in North America next summer. Team Melli, who lost only once in a difficult third phase qualifying section, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly