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Group A

This opening fixture at the historic Azteca venue will mirror the opener from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's knockout stage record at the worldwide tournament includes just one win, secured against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. Their coach, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be targeting a third last-eight appearance as hosts. The South African side, led by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their first finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a win over Lesotho given against them for fielding an suspended player.

It will represent Korea Republic's 11th successive finals qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished in third place in the Best Player voting when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their manager and led them unbeaten through a anything but straightforward qualification section. The fourth team in Group A will be the victor of a European qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have made it for the World Cup on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden goal, it did not bring their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the best squad in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the draw appears depends largely on whether the Italian national team progress through the European playoff (the remaining three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the initial phase in four of the past five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from probably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast individuals aiming to play at their fourth World Cups. The Qatari team, having finished in fourth in their third phase qualifying section, were handed a significant advantage by being selected as a tournament host for the fourth phase and secured qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected entirely from the domestic league.

Group C

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

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third manager in a qualification campaign that included a run of three successive defeats, but there is little jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a clear upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African nations, able both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a perfect record.

Group D

Early last year, the USA seemed in a dismal state, 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 defeated Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their 6th finals. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a record that has led to both group phase eliminations and a quarter-final place. Their familiar defensive mindset hasn't altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most free-flowing Australian side and their squad lacks obvious superstars, but in spite of an shaky start to the third round of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their last two fixtures. The group’s final team will emerge from the winner of the European playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After back-to-back group-stage eliminations, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The shift to a more progressive style has brought a fragility and the draw initially looked like presenting a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations of qualifying, finishing in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a defence including Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a paltry five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever quite good as the golden squad 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 implausible continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, scoring 25 goals without reply.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe do not possess the star quality of past Dutch eras, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualification, consistently looks a more effective performer with his national side than at club level. They begin against Japan, who will play in their eighth 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 phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third consecutive finals appearance by dominating a manageable qualification group, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as defensive as certain previous Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 different goalscorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the UEFA playoff (against Ukraine in the semi, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will set up a rematch of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous 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 qualification, 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 successful side in African history, but having failed to reach the finals during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that conceded just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified undefeated.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively meant 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 FIFA-ranked side to have booked their place in North America next summer. Team Melli, who were defeated once in a tricky third-round qualification section, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly