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Group A

This opening game at the famous Azteca venue will mirror the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's elimination stage history at the global tournament features just one victory, secured against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be targeting a third-ever last-eight appearance as tournament hosts. South Africa, led by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial finals since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a victory over Lesotho given against them for fielding an suspended player.

It will mark South Korea's 11th successive finals appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came in third place in the Best Player voting when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their manager and guided them unbeaten through a far from easy qualifying section. The fourth team in Group A will be the victor of a UEFA playoff involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

The Canadian team have made it for the World Cup twice and, although Qatar 2022 yielded their first goal, it did not bring their first point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the best group of players in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the draw looks hinges largely on whether Italy progress through the UEFA playoff (the other 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have got through the initial phase in four of the last five World Cups and were last-eight participants at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat from arguably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have individuals aiming to play at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having ended up fourth in their third phase qualification group, were given a major boost by being selected as a tournament host for the final phase and secured progress with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland's first finals in 28 years looks 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 make it to the knockout phase for the first time after 8 prior group-stage exits. Haiti’s only previous World Cup, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the fate that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a doping test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have limited traveling support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third manager in a qualifying campaign that included a streak of three successive defeats, but there is minimal risk in South American qualification these days. He has presided over a noticeable improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the strongest of the north African nations, able both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a 100% record.

Pool D

Early last year, the USA seemed in a dismal condition, 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 seemingly begun to get his ideas understood and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against Paraguay, who are competing in their 6th finals. They have secured one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has led to both group-stage exits and a quarter-final place. Their familiar defensive approach has not changed: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

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

Group E

After back-to-back group-stage eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more attacking philosophy has introduced a fragility and the draw initially looked like posing a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations of qualifying, ending up in second place behind Argentina in South America. While they netted only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a paltry five.

Ivory Coast live in a state of constant declinism, 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. Following an implausible continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, netting 25 goals without reply.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side perhaps do not possess the star quality of past Dutch generations, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualification, always appears a more reliable performer with his country's side than at domestic level. They begin against Japan, who will play in their 8th consecutive finals, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian sides in qualification, suffering one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third consecutive finals appearance by dominating a manageable qualification section, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as defensive as some previous Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 different goalscorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the European play-off (against Ukraine in the semi, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will create a repeat of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Group G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are moving on from the legacy of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, finding the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, finding goals freely at times, but also struggling to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most decorated side in African football history, but having not managed to reach the finals during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite fulfilled their potential on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defensive unit that allowed only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania essentially equated to a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who cruised through qualification, 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. Iran, who were defeated only once in a tricky third phase qualification section, are on a travel ban, potentially