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Group A

The initial game at the iconic Azteca venue will mirror the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's elimination stage record at the worldwide showpiece includes just a single win, secured against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that squad and will be aiming for a third last-eight berth as hosts. The South African side, coached by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, secured their place for their first World Cup since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a victory over Lesotho given against them for fielding an ineligible footballer.

This will represent South Korea's eleventh consecutive finals appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came in third place in the Golden Ball voting 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 group. The fourth team in Group A will be the winner of a UEFA playoff featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have qualified for the global finals on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden finals goal, it did not deliver their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the best squad in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the draw appears depends largely on whether the Italian national team make it through the European playoff (the remaining 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the group stage in four of the last five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to play at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having finished fourth in their third-round qualifying section, were given a major advantage by being chosen as a host for the final phase and secured qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland's first finals in 28 years looks a lot like their last appearance, when they were defeated to Brazil and Morocco; the Haitian team occupy the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the knockout stage for the first time after 8 prior group phase eliminations. Haiti’s only prior finals, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the fate that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a drugs test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited away support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third manager in a qualifying campaign that included a streak of three consecutive defeats, but there is little risk in South American qualification these days. He has presided over a clear upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African sides, capable both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter, qualifying with a 100% win record.

Group D

At the start of last year, the USA seemed in a poor condition, 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 seemingly begun to get his message across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their sixth finals. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase exits and a last-eight place. Their familiar cautious mindset hasn't changed: 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 stars, but in spite of an shaky beginning 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 final team will emerge from the winner of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

Following back-to-back group-stage exits, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more progressive philosophy has introduced a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like presenting a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador 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 defence featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, let in a mere five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of constant pessimism, where nothing is ever as good 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 implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, scoring 25 goals without none.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps do not possess the star quality of previous Dutch generations, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, consistently looks a more reliable player with his country's side than at domestic level. They open against Japan, who will play in their eighth successive World Cup, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third straight World Cup appearance by dominating a straightforward qualifying group, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as dour as some past Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 separate goalscorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the European play-off (against Ukraine in the semi, 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 performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are moving on from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualification, 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 decorated side in African history, but having not managed to reach the finals during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully done themselves justice 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 reserved place for Oceania effectively meant a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who cruised through qualification, winning five games out of five, scoring 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. Iran, who lost only once in a difficult third phase qualification group, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly