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Group A

This opening match at the historic Azteca venue will mirror the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's elimination phase history at the worldwide showpiece features just one victory, secured against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. Their coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be aiming for a third last-eight appearance as hosts. South Africa, coached by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their first World Cup since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite having a win over Lesotho given against them for using an ineligible player.

It will mark South Korea's eleventh consecutive World Cup appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and finished in third place in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their manager and guided them without a loss through a anything but easy qualifying section. The fourth team in Group A will be the victor of a European playoff 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 point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of probably the most talented squad in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the draw appears depends mostly on whether Italy progress through the European play-off (the other 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 past five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from arguably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to play at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having ended up fourth in their third phase qualification group, were handed a major boost by being chosen as a host for the fourth round and secured qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected exclusively from the domestic league.

Group C

Scotland's first finals in 28 years looks a lot like their last appearance, when they lost to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination stage for the very first time after eight previous group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s only prior World Cup, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the fate that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a drugs 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 manager in a qualification campaign that included a run of three consecutive losses, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualification 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, able both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter, qualifying with a 100% win record.

Group D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a dismal condition, losing 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 message across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against Paraguay, who are playing in their 6th World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a record that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a quarter-final appearance. Their trademark cautious mindset has not altered: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australian team and their squad lacks obvious stars, but despite an shaky beginning to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their final two fixtures. The group’s final team will come from the victor of the European playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following successive group-stage exits, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more attacking style has brought a fragility and the group initially looked like presenting a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualification, finishing in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although they netted only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline including Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, let in a mere five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever quite good as the golden generation of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. After an improbable continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, netting 25 goals and conceding none.

The smallest country ever to reach the finals, Curaçao, were the final team drawn, however, making the group look a lot far less intimidating than it might have appeared.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe do not possess the star quality of previous Dutch eras, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, consistently looks a more reliable player with his country's side than at domestic level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will participate in their eighth successive finals, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian sides in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third straight World Cup berth by topping a manageable qualification section, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as dour as certain previous Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 different goalscorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the European play-off (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 famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and the Pharaohs are moving on from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, scoring the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, scoring freely at times, but also struggling to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most successful side in African football history, but having not managed to qualify during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defence 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 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 FIFA-ranked side to have secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated once in a tricky third-round qualifying section, are on a travel ban, possibly