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Group A

The opening match at the iconic Azteca Stadium will replay the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's knockout stage history at the global showpiece includes just a single victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be targeting a third-ever last-eight berth as hosts. The South African side, coached by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an suspended footballer.

This will mark Korea Republic's eleventh straight finals qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came in third place in the Golden Ball award when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. Hong is now their manager and led them without a loss through a far from easy qualifying section. The fourth side in Group A will be the winner of a European qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have made it for the World Cup on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 brought their maiden goal, it did not deliver their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the most talented group of players in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the draw appears hinges mostly on whether Italy progress through the European play-off (the remaining three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have got through the group stage in four of the last five World Cups and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from arguably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast individuals hoping to feature at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having ended up fourth in their third-round qualifying group, were given a major boost by being chosen as a tournament host for the fourth phase and clinched progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is drawn entirely from the domestic league.

Pool C

Scotland return to the World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their last outing, when they were defeated to the Seleção and the Atlas Lions; Haiti occupy the spot of Norway. Their aim will be to make it to the elimination phase for the very first time after 8 prior group-stage exits. Haiti’s only previous finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a drugs test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited away support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third manager in a qualifying process that featured a run of three successive losses, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a noticeable improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African nations, capable both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter, qualifying with a 100% record.

Pool D

At the start of last year, the USA seemed in a poor 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 ideas across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their sixth World Cup. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a record that has led to both group-stage exits and a last-eight place. Their familiar defensive mindset has not changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most free-flowing Australia side and their roster is without clear stars, but despite an shaky start to the third phase of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their final two matches. The pool's fourth team will come from the winner of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

Following successive group-stage eliminations, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more attacking philosophy has introduced a fragility and the group initially looked like posing a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualification, finishing 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, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, let in a paltry five.

Ivory Coast live in a state of permanent declinism, where nothing is ever quite 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 triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, netting 25 goals and conceding reply.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side maybe do not possess the star quality of previous Dutch generations, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, always appears a more reliable performer with his country's side than at domestic level. They open against Japan, who will participate in their eighth successive finals, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian sides in qualification, suffering one of their 16 games across the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third consecutive finals berth by dominating a straightforward qualification section, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as defensive as certain past Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 different goalscorers in qualification. 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 create a rematch of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are emerging from the legacy of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, finding 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 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 cutting edge, but it was a defence that conceded only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A reserved place for Oceania essentially meant 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-ranked side to have secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated only once in a difficult third-round qualifying group, are on a travel ban, possibly