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Group A

This first fixture at the historic Azteca venue will echo the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's elimination phase history at the global showpiece includes just a single win, achieved against Bulgaria when they previously hosted in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third quarter-final berth as tournament hosts. South Africa, led by experienced Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial World Cup since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a win over Lesotho given against them for using an suspended footballer.

This will mark Korea Republic's 11th successive World Cup qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came in third place in the Golden Ball award when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. He is now their coach and guided them without a loss through a anything but easy qualifying section. The final side in Group A will be the winner of a European playoff involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have qualified for the World Cup on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their first goal, it did not deliver their first-ever finals point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of probably the most talented group of players in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the group appears hinges largely on whether Italy progress through the European play-off (the remaining 3 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 tournaments and were quarter-finalists at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified without defeat from arguably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast individuals aiming to play at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having ended up in fourth in their third-round qualification section, were handed a significant boost by being chosen as a tournament host for the fourth phase and secured progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected exclusively from the domestic league.

Pool C

Scotland's first finals in 28 years bears a lot like their last appearance, when they were defeated to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti take the spot of Norway. Their aim will be to make it to the knockout phase for the first time after eight previous group phase eliminations. Haiti’s only prior 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 assaulted by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have restricted traveling support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualification campaign that featured a run of three successive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualification these days. He has presided over a noticeable upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African nations, capable both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying 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 friendly matches. But over the last year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his ideas understood and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their sixth World Cup. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a record that has resulted to both group-stage eliminations and a last-eight appearance. Their trademark defensive approach hasn't altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian side and their squad is without obvious superstars, but in spite of an iffy beginning to the third phase of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their final two fixtures. The pool's fourth team will come from the winner of the European playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After back-to-back group-stage exits, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more progressive style has brought a fragility and the group initially looked like posing a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualification, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. While they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline including Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, let in a paltry five.

Ivory Coast live in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever as successful as the glorious squad of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. Following an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, netting 25 goals without reply.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side perhaps lack the star quality of past Dutch eras, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, always looks a more effective performer with his national side than at club level. They open against Japan, who will participate in their 8th successive finals, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualification, suffering 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 finals berth by topping a straightforward qualification section, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps 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 repeat of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and the Pharaohs are moving on from the legacy of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualifying, finding 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 golden 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 defensive unit that conceded only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified unbeaten.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively 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 booked their place in North America next summer. Iran, who lost once in a tricky third phase qualification section, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly