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Pool A

The opening game at the historic Azteca Stadium will replay the opener from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's knockout stage history at the worldwide showpiece features just a single win, secured against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third quarter-final berth as tournament hosts. South Africa, coached by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial World Cup since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite having a win over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an suspended footballer.

It will represent Korea Republic's 11th straight World Cup qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came third in the Best Player voting when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. He is now their coach and guided them unbeaten through a far from easy qualifying group. The final team in Group A will be the victor of a European playoff featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have made it for the global finals twice and, while Qatar 2022 brought their first goal, it did not deliver their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the most talented squad in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the draw looks depends largely on whether Italy make it through the European playoff (the other 3 teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have got through 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 without defeat from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players aiming to feature at their fourth finals. Qatar, having ended up fourth in their third phase qualification group, were given a major boost by being chosen as a host for the final round and clinched progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn entirely from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland's first World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their last appearance, when they were defeated to Brazil and Morocco; Haiti take the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination stage for the very first time after 8 previous group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s only prior World Cup, in 1974, was notable less for their three losses than for the fate that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a drugs test, was assaulted 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 coach in a qualification campaign that featured a streak of three consecutive defeats, but there is minimal risk in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a noticeable improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the strongest of the north African nations, able both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter, qualifying with a perfect record.

Pool D

Early last year, the USA seemed in a poor condition, losing to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendlies. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently begun to get his ideas understood and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against Paraguay, who are playing in their sixth World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a quarter-final appearance. Their familiar cautious mindset hasn't 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 obvious superstars, but in spite of an shaky start to the third phase of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their last two matches. The pool's fourth team will emerge from the victor of the European 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 transition to a more progressive style has introduced a vulnerability and the group initially looked like presenting a huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualification, finishing in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although they scored 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 mere five.

Ivory Coast live in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever quite successful as the golden generation of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved transformative. After an improbable continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, scoring 25 goals and conceding none.

The tiniest country ever to qualify, Curaçao, were the final team picked, however, making the group look a lot far less intimidating than it might have appeared.

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps lack the galacticos of previous Dutch generations, but they secured qualification without losing and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualification, consistently looks a more reliable player with his national side than at domestic level. They open against Japan, who will play in their 8th consecutive finals, 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 total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third straight finals berth by dominating a manageable qualifying section, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as defensive as certain past Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 different scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the UEFA play-off (against Ukraine in the semi, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will create a repeat of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Group G

Belgium and Egypt are emerging from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, finding the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, scoring freely at times, but also struggling 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 global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that conceded only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified undefeated.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively meant a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who cruised through qualification, 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 secured their place in North America next summer. Team Melli, who lost only once in a tricky third-round qualification section, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially