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Pool A

The initial match at the historic Azteca venue will replay the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's knockout phase history at the worldwide tournament includes just one win, achieved 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 hosts. The South African side, led by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial World Cup since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a win over Lesotho given against them for using an suspended player.

It will mark 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 award when South Korea made the last four in 2002. He is now their coach and led them without a loss through a far from easy qualifying section. The final team in Group A will be the winner of a European playoff involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have qualified for the global finals on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden finals goal, it did not deliver their first point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the best group of players in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the group looks depends mostly on whether Italy progress through the European play-off (the other 3 teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have navigated the initial phase in four of the past five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to play at their fourth World Cups. The Qatari team, having ended up in fourth in their third phase qualifying group, were given a major advantage by being selected as a tournament host for the fourth phase and secured 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 return to the finals in 28 years bears a lot like their last outing, when they lost to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team occupy the spot of Norway. Their aim will be to progress to the knockout phase for the first time after 8 prior group phase exits. Haiti’s sole previous World Cup, in 1974, was remembered 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 deported. They will have limited away support due to travel restrictions from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third manager in a qualification campaign that included a streak of three consecutive losses, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a noticeable upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African nations, capable both of overwhelming opponents 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 friendly matches. But over the last 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 begin against Paraguay, who are competing in their 6th finals. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a record that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a quarter-final place. Their familiar defensive mindset has not altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian team and their squad is without clear stars, but in spite of 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 fixtures. The group’s final team will come from the winner of Europe’s playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following 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 vulnerability and the group initially looked like presenting a massive challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations of qualification, finishing second behind Argentina in South America. While 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, conceded a paltry five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of permanent declinism, where nothing is ever quite good as the glorious squad of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. Following an implausible continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, scoring 25 goals without reply.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe lack the star quality of past Dutch eras, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored 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 finals, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third straight finals berth by topping a straightforward qualifying group, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as dour as certain previous Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 different goalscorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the European playoff (against Ukraine in the semi-final, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will create a rematch of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and the Pharaohs are emerging from the legacy of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualifying, scoring the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, scoring 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 not managed to reach the finals during their peak 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 undefeated.

A guaranteed place for Oceania essentially equated to a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who sailed through qualifying, winning five games out of five, netting 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. Iran, who lost only once in a difficult third-round qualifying section, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly