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Group A

This opening match at the iconic Azteca Stadium will mirror the opener from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's knockout stage history at the worldwide tournament features just one win, secured against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be aiming for a third-ever last-eight berth as tournament hosts. The South African side, coached by experienced Belgian manager Hugo Broos, secured their place for their first finals since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a win over Lesotho given against them for using an ineligible footballer.

It will represent South Korea's 11th consecutive World Cup qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came in third place in the Best Player award when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. He is now their coach and guided them without a loss through a far from easy qualification group. The fourth team in Group A will be the victor of a UEFA qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have made it for the World Cup twice and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their first goal, it did not deliver their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the best group of players in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the group looks hinges mostly on whether the Italian national team progress through the UEFA playoff (the other 3 teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have navigated the group stage in four of the past five World Cups and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players aiming to play at their fourth finals. Qatar, having finished in fourth in their third-round qualification group, were given a significant boost by being selected as a host for the final phase and clinched qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn exclusively from the domestic league.

Group C

Scotland's first finals in 28 years looks a lot like their last appearance, when they lost to the Seleção and Morocco; the Haitian team take the place of Norway. Their aim will be to make it to the elimination stage for the very first time after eight prior group phase eliminations. Haiti’s sole prior World Cup, in 1974, was notable less for their three losses than for the ordeal 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 a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third manager in a qualification process that featured a run of three successive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a clear upturn in form. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African nations, capable both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a 100% win record.

Pool D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a poor state, losing to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendly matches. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against Paraguay, who are competing in their 6th World Cup. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group-stage eliminations and a last-eight appearance. 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 Australia side and their squad lacks obvious stars, but despite an iffy start to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their final two matches. The pool's final team will emerge from the winner of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

Following back-to-back group-stage eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more progressive philosophy has introduced a fragility and the draw initially looked like posing a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualification, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. While they scored 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, let in a mere five.

Ivory Coast live in a state of permanent declinism, where nothing is ever quite good as the glorious generation of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. Following an improbable continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, netting 25 goals and conceding none.

The smallest country ever to qualify, Curaçao, were the fourth team picked, though, making the group look a lot less intimidating than it could have been.

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps lack the star quality of previous Dutch generations, but they secured qualification without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, consistently appears a more effective performer with his national side than at domestic level. They open against Japan, who will play in their 8th successive finals, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian sides in qualification, suffering one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third consecutive World Cup appearance by topping a manageable qualifying section, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as dour as certain past Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 separate goalscorers in qualifying. 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 repeat of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and the Pharaohs are emerging from the legacy of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualification, finding 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 football history, but having failed to qualify 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 attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that allowed only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for New Zealand, 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 were defeated once in a difficult third-round qualifying group, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially