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Pool A

This opening match at the historic Azteca venue will mirror the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's knockout phase history at the worldwide tournament includes just one win, achieved against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third last-eight berth as hosts. The South African side, led by experienced Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a win over Lesotho given against them for using an ineligible player.

It will represent South Korea's 11th consecutive World Cup appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came in third place in the Best Player award when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their coach and guided them without a loss through a anything but straightforward qualification group. The fourth side in Group A will be the winner of a UEFA playoff featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

The Canadian team have qualified for the World Cup on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 brought their first goal, it did not bring their first point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the best squad in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which favorable the draw appears hinges largely on whether Italy progress through the European play-off (the other three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the initial phase in four of the past five tournaments and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from arguably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players hoping to play at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having ended up in fourth in their third phase qualifying group, were handed a major advantage by being selected as a tournament host for the fourth round and secured progress with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn entirely from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland first World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their last appearance, when they lost to the Seleção and the Atlas Lions; Haiti occupy the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination phase for the first time after 8 prior group phase eliminations. Haiti’s only 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 failing a drugs test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have restricted traveling support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that included a run of three consecutive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a noticeable improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the strongest of the north African nations, capable both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a perfect record.

Pool D

Early last year, the USA seemed in a dismal state, losing to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendlies. But over the last year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently 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 6th World Cup. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a record that has led to both group-stage eliminations and a quarter-final appearance. Their trademark defensive mindset hasn't changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian team and their roster is without clear superstars, but despite an iffy start to the third phase of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their final two fixtures. The pool's final 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 brought a fragility and the draw initially looked like presenting a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualifying, finishing second behind Argentina in South America. While they netted only 14 goals in 18 games, a defence featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a paltry five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of permanent declinism, where nothing is ever quite successful 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 inspirational. Following an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, scoring 25 goals without reply.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side perhaps do not possess the galacticos of past Dutch eras, but they secured qualification without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, consistently appears a more reliable player with his national side than at domestic level. They begin against Japan, who will participate in their 8th consecutive World Cup, 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 combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third consecutive World Cup appearance by dominating a manageable qualification group, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as dour as some past Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 different scorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the UEFA 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.

Group G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are moving on from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualifying, finding the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, scoring easily at times, but also struggling to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most successful side in African history, but having not managed to qualify 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 defence that conceded only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively 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-ranked side to have secured their place in North America next summer. Team Melli, who were defeated only once in a tricky third phase qualifying group, are on a travel ban, possibly