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Group A

The opening game at the famous Azteca venue will echo the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's knockout stage history at the global tournament features just a single victory, secured against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. Their coach, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that squad and will be aiming for a third-ever quarter-final appearance as tournament hosts. The South African side, led by experienced Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after having a win over Lesotho given against them for using an suspended footballer.

It will represent South Korea's eleventh consecutive World Cup appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and finished third in the Best Player voting when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their manager and led them unbeaten through a far from straightforward qualification section. The fourth side in Group A will be the victor of a UEFA playoff featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

The Canadian team have made it for the global finals twice and, while Qatar 2022 brought their first finals goal, it did not deliver their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of probably the best squad in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the draw appears depends mostly on whether Italy progress through the European play-off (the other 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have got through the initial phase in four of the past five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified without defeat from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast individuals hoping to play at their fourth finals. Qatar, having finished fourth in their third-round qualification section, were handed a significant boost by being chosen as a host for the final phase and clinched progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected exclusively from the domestic league.

Group C

Scotland's first World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their last appearance, when they were defeated to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; Haiti occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination stage for the first time after eight prior group phase exits. Haiti’s only previous World Cup, in 1974, was remembered 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 assaulted by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have restricted away support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying campaign that featured a streak of three consecutive defeats, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a clear upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African nations, able both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a perfect win record.

Group D

Early 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 understood and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their sixth finals. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has led to both group-stage eliminations and a quarter-final appearance. Their familiar cautious approach has not altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australian team and their squad is without clear stars, but in spite of 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 the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After successive group-stage eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the feared force of old. The shift to a more attacking style has introduced a fragility and the group initially looked like posing a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations of qualifying, ending up 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, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a paltry five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever as successful as the glorious generation of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control 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, netting 25 goals without 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 been.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe do not possess the star quality of previous Dutch generations, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, consistently looks a more effective player with his national side than at club level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will participate in their 8th successive World Cup, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian sides in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games over the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third straight World Cup appearance by dominating a manageable qualifying group, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as dour as certain previous Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 separate scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the UEFA playoff (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

Belgium and the Pharaohs are emerging from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, 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 successful side in African history, but having failed to reach the finals during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully fulfilled their potential on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defensive unit that conceded only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively meant a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who sailed through qualification, winning five games out of five, netting 29 goals, nine of them by Chris Wood, but they are the lowest-ranked side to have booked their place in North America next summer. Iran, who lost once in a tricky third phase qualifying group, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly