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Pool A

The first fixture at the famous Azteca Stadium will replay the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's knockout phase history at the worldwide tournament includes just a single victory, secured against Bulgaria when they previously hosted in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be aiming for a third-ever last-eight appearance as tournament hosts. The South African side, coached by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial World Cup since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a win over Lesotho awarded against them for using an suspended footballer.

This will mark South Korea's eleventh successive World Cup qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished third in the Best Player voting when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. Hong is now their coach and guided them unbeaten through a far from straightforward qualification section. The final team in Group A will be the victor of a UEFA qualifying play-off 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, although Qatar 2022 brought their first goal, it did not bring their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of probably the most talented squad in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the group looks depends largely on whether Italy progress through the UEFA playoff (the other three contenders 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 past five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from arguably 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. Qatar, having ended up fourth in their third-round qualifying group, were given a significant advantage by being selected as a host for the final phase and clinched progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected exclusively 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 the Seleção and Morocco; the Haitian team occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the knockout stage for the first time after eight previous group phase exits. Haiti’s sole previous World Cup, in 1974, was remembered less for their three losses than for the fate that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a doping test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited away support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third manager in a qualification campaign that featured a streak of three successive defeats, but there is little jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a noticeable upturn in form. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African nations, able both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a perfect record.

Group D

Early last year, the USA seemed in a dismal condition, 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 apparently begun to get his message across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their 6th World Cup. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has led to both group phase exits and a last-eight place. Their trademark defensive approach has not changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian team and their squad lacks obvious superstars, but in spite of an shaky beginning to the third phase of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side made it by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their last two matches. The pool's fourth team will come from the victor of the European playoff 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 attacking style has introduced a fragility and the draw initially looked like posing a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations of qualification, ending up in second place behind Argentina in South America. While they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, let in a mere five.

Côte d’Ivoire exist in a state of constant pessimism, where nothing is ever as good as the golden squad of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. Following an improbable continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, netting 25 goals without none.

The smallest country ever to reach the finals, Curaçao, were the fourth team picked, however, making the group look a lot less daunting than it might have been.

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps lack the star quality of past Dutch generations, but they secured qualification without losing and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualification, consistently appears a more effective performer with his country's side than at domestic level. They open against the Japanese team, who will participate in their eighth successive World Cup, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian sides in qualification, losing one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third straight finals appearance by dominating a straightforward qualifying group, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as dour as certain past Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 different scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the European playoff (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 performed the iconic 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 qualifying, finding the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, finding goals freely 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 golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully 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 ensured they qualified undefeated.

A reserved place for Oceania essentially equated to 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 FIFA-ranked side to have secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated only once in a tricky third phase qualification group, are on a travel ban, possibly