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Pool A

The first game at the historic Azteca Stadium will replay the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's elimination phase record at the global tournament includes just a single victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that squad and will be aiming for a third-ever last-eight appearance as hosts. The South African side, coached by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial World Cup since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after having a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for using an suspended player.

It will represent South Korea's eleventh successive finals appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and finished third in the Best Player voting when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. He is now their coach and led them without a loss through a anything but easy qualification group. The final team in Group A will be the victor of a European playoff featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have made it for the global finals twice and, although Qatar 2022 brought their first goal, it did not bring their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the best squad in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the draw appears depends mostly on whether the Italian national team make it through the UEFA playoff (the remaining three contenders 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 last-eight participants 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 veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players aiming to feature at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having finished in fourth in their third-round qualifying group, were given a significant boost by being selected as a tournament host for the final round and secured progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn entirely from the domestic league.

Pool C

Scotland's first finals in 28 years bears a lot like their previous appearance, when they lost to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; Haiti take the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the knockout phase for the first time after eight previous group phase eliminations. Haiti’s only prior finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the fate that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a doping test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have limited traveling support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third manager in a qualifying process that included a run of three consecutive defeats, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualification these days. He has overseen a noticeable improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African sides, capable both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a perfect win record.

Group D

At the start of last year, the USA seemed in a dismal state, suffering defeats to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendlies. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his message across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against Paraguay, who are playing in their sixth World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group-stage exits and a quarter-final appearance. Their familiar defensive approach has not changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australian side and their roster lacks clear stars, but despite an shaky start to the third round of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their last two fixtures. The pool's fourth team will emerge from the winner of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After successive group-stage exits, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The shift to a more attacking philosophy has introduced a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like presenting a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualifying, finishing second behind Argentina in South America. Although 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, conceded a mere five.

Côte d’Ivoire exist in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever quite successful as the glorious squad of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. Following an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, scoring 25 goals and conceding reply.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side perhaps lack the star quality of previous Dutch generations, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, always looks a more effective player with his national side than at club level. They open against the Japanese team, who will play in their 8th consecutive finals, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games over the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third straight World Cup appearance by dominating a straightforward qualification group, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as dour as certain past Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 separate 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 set up a repeat of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are moving on from the legacy of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualifying, scoring the net eight times but conceding 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 football history, but having not managed to qualify during their peak 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 allowed just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified undefeated.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who sailed through qualifying, 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. Iran, who were defeated only once in a tricky third-round qualification section, are on a travel ban, potentially