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Group A

This opening fixture at the famous Azteca venue will mirror the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's knockout phase record at the worldwide showpiece includes just one win, secured against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. Their coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be aiming for a third-ever quarter-final appearance as tournament hosts. South Africa, led by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin despite having a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an ineligible player.

It will represent Korea Republic's 11th straight finals appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and finished third in the Golden Ball award when South Korea made the last four in 2002. Hong is now their manager and guided them unbeaten through a anything but straightforward qualification group. The final team in Group A will be the winner of a UEFA qualifying play-off featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

The Canadian team have made it for the World Cup on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 brought their maiden finals goal, it did not bring their first point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of arguably the most talented group of players in their history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the group appears depends largely on whether the Italian national team make it through the UEFA play-off (the remaining three contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have got through the initial phase in four of the last five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from arguably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players hoping to play at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having ended up in fourth in their third phase qualification group, were given a major boost by being chosen as a tournament host for the final round and secured qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is drawn exclusively from the domestic league.

Pool C

Scotland return to the World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their previous appearance, when they were defeated to Brazil and Morocco; the Haitian team occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the knockout phase for the first time after 8 prior group phase exits. Haiti’s sole prior World Cup, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the fate 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 traveling support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualification process that included a run of three successive defeats, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualification these days. He has overseen a clear upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African sides, able both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a perfect record.

Group D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a poor state, losing to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendly matches. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against Paraguay, who are competing in their 6th World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has led to both group phase exits and a quarter-final place. Their trademark defensive mindset has not altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australian team and their squad is without obvious stars, but in spite of an iffy 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 final two matches. The pool's fourth team will emerge from the winner of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After back-to-back group phase eliminations, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more attacking philosophy has brought a vulnerability and the group initially looked like presenting a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualification, ending up in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, let in a paltry five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever quite good as the glorious generation of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. After an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, netting 25 goals without reply.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe do not possess the star quality of previous Dutch generations, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, always appears a more effective player with his country's side than at domestic 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 over the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third consecutive World Cup appearance by dominating a straightforward qualification section, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as dour as certain past Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 different goalscorers in qualification. 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 set up a rematch of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Group G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are moving on from the legacy of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualifying, scoring the net eight times but letting in 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 successful side in African history, but having failed to reach the finals 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 attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that allowed only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania essentially equated to a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who sailed 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. Team Melli, who lost once in a tricky third phase qualifying section, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly