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Pool A

This first fixture at the historic Azteca Stadium will mirror the first game from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's knockout stage history at the worldwide showpiece features just one win, secured against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be aiming for a third quarter-final appearance as tournament hosts. South Africa, coached by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial finals since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an ineligible footballer.

It will represent South Korea's eleventh straight World Cup appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came third in the Best Player voting when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their manager 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 UEFA playoff featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have qualified for the World Cup on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 brought their maiden finals goal, it did not deliver their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the most talented group of players in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which favorable the draw appears hinges mostly on whether the Italian national team make it through the European playoff (the remaining three contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have navigated 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 qualified without defeat from probably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players hoping to play at their fourth finals. Qatar, having finished fourth in their third-round qualification section, were handed a major boost by being chosen as a tournament host for the fourth round and secured progress with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is drawn entirely from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland first World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their last outing, when they were defeated to the Seleção and the Atlas Lions; Haiti take the spot of Norway. Their aim will be to progress to the elimination stage for the very first time after eight previous 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 testing positive in a doping test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have restricted away support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that included a streak of three successive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a noticeable improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African sides, able both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a perfect win 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 friendly matches. But over the last year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his message across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their 6th World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase exits and a quarter-final appearance. Their trademark defensive mindset hasn't altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most free-flowing Australian team and their roster is without obvious superstars, but despite an iffy start to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their last two matches. The group’s final team will emerge from the victor of the European playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following back-to-back group-stage exits, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more progressive style has brought a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like presenting a massive challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualifying, finishing second behind Argentina in South America. Although 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, let in a mere five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever quite good as the glorious squad of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. Following an improbable continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, netting 25 goals and conceding none.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps do not possess the galacticos of previous Dutch generations, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, consistently appears a more reliable performer with his national side than at club level. They open against the Japanese team, who will participate in their 8th successive World Cup, and were by far the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games over the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third straight finals appearance by topping a straightforward qualifying section, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as defensive as certain previous Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 separate goalscorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the European play-off (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 executed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are moving on from the legacy of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualifying, finding the net eight times but conceding 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 failed to reach the finals during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defence that conceded only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified undefeated.

A reserved 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-ranked side to have secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated once in a tricky third phase qualifying section, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially