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Group A

This first match at the famous Azteca venue will replay the first game from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's knockout stage record at the global tournament features just a single victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be aiming for a third quarter-final berth as hosts. The South African side, coached by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since they hosted, ending above Nigeria and Benin even after having a win over Lesotho given against them for fielding an ineligible footballer.

It will mark South Korea's eleventh straight World Cup appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came third in the Best Player award when South Korea made the last four in 2002. He is now their coach and guided them without a loss through a anything but straightforward qualifying section. The fourth side in Group A will be the winner of a European playoff featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have made it for the World Cup twice and, although Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden goal, it did not bring their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the best squad in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which favorable the group looks depends mostly on whether Italy make it through the UEFA play-off (the remaining 3 teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the group stage in four of the past five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from arguably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to play at their fourth finals. Qatar, having ended up in fourth in their third-round qualification group, were given a major advantage by being selected as a host for the fourth round and secured progress with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is drawn exclusively from the domestic league.

Pool C

Scotland's return to the finals in 28 years looks a lot like their previous outing, when they were defeated to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team take the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the knockout phase for the very first time after eight prior group phase exits. Haiti’s sole previous finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that befell 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 restricted traveling support due to travel restrictions from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third manager in a qualification campaign that featured a streak of three consecutive defeats, but there is minimal 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 strongest of the north African nations, capable both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a perfect win record.

Group D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a poor 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 seemingly begun to get his ideas understood and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their 6th finals. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a quarter-final appearance. Their trademark cautious approach hasn't changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australian side and their squad lacks clear stars, but in spite of an shaky start to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their final two matches. The pool's final team will come from the victor of the European playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After successive group-stage exits, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more progressive philosophy has introduced a vulnerability and the group initially looked like posing a massive challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualifying, ending up in second place 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, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a paltry five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever quite good as the glorious generation of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. After an implausible continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, netting 25 goals without reply.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side maybe do not possess the galacticos of previous Dutch eras, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, always appears a more effective performer with his country's side than at domestic level. They open against Japan, who will play in their eighth successive World Cup, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualification, suffering one of their 16 games over the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third straight World Cup appearance by topping a straightforward qualification group, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as defensive as some previous Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 different scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the UEFA playoff (against Ukraine in the semi, 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 emerging from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualifying, finding the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, scoring easily at times, but also laboring to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most decorated side in African history, but having failed to reach the finals during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully done themselves justice on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defence that allowed only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for the All Whites, 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 booked their place in North America next summer. Iran, who lost only once in a difficult third-round qualification group, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly