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Pool A

The opening match at the iconic Azteca Stadium will mirror the first game from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's knockout stage history at the worldwide tournament features just one win, secured against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be aiming for a third quarter-final berth as tournament hosts. The South African side, led by experienced Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial finals since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin despite having a win over Lesotho awarded against them for using an ineligible footballer.

It will mark South Korea's eleventh consecutive World Cup appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished third in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. Hong is now their manager and guided them unbeaten through a anything but straightforward qualification group. The final side in Group A will be the winner of a European playoff featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have qualified for the World Cup on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 yielded their first goal, it did not deliver their first 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. How favorable the draw looks depends mostly on whether Italy progress through the UEFA playoff (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 booked their ticket without defeat from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players aiming to feature at their fourth World Cups. The Qatari team, having ended up in fourth in their third phase qualifying group, were given a significant boost by being chosen as a tournament host for the final round and secured progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected exclusively from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland first World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their previous outing, when they lost to Brazil and Morocco; Haiti occupy the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the elimination phase for the very first time after 8 prior group phase exits. Haiti’s sole prior finals, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the fate that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a doping test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have restricted away support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualification process that included a run of three consecutive defeats, but there is minimal risk in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a noticeable upturn in form. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African sides, able both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a perfect win record.

Group 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 seemingly begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against Paraguay, who are competing in their sixth finals. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a record that has resulted to both group phase exits and a last-eight appearance. Their familiar cautious approach has not altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian side and their squad is without obvious stars, but in spite of an iffy 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 final two fixtures. The pool's final team will emerge from the victor of the European playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following successive group-stage eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more attacking style has brought a vulnerability and the group initially looked like posing a massive challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualification, finishing second behind Argentina in South America. While they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline featuring 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 declinism, 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, head coach Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. After an improbable continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, netting 25 goals without none.

The smallest country ever to reach the finals, the Curaçao team, were the fourth team picked, though, making the group look a lot far less intimidating than it might have appeared.

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps do not possess the galacticos of past Dutch generations, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, consistently appears a more reliable player with his national side than at club level. They open against the Japanese team, who will play in their eighth consecutive World Cup, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third straight finals berth by dominating a straightforward qualification section, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as defensive as certain previous Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 different goalscorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the European playoff (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 executed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Group G

Belgium and the Pharaohs are emerging from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualifying, finding the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, finding goals freely at times, but also laboring to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most decorated side in African football history, but having not managed to qualify during their peak 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 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. Team Melli, who were defeated once in a tricky third-round qualifying section, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly