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Pool A

The first match at the historic Azteca venue will echo the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's elimination phase history at the worldwide tournament includes just a single victory, secured against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be targeting a third-ever quarter-final berth as hosts. South Africa, led by experienced Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial World Cup since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after having a victory over Lesotho given against them for fielding an ineligible player.

It will mark Korea Republic's eleventh successive World Cup appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came in third place in the Best Player award when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. He is now their manager and led them unbeaten through a anything but easy qualifying section. The final team in Group A will be the winner of a European qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

The Canadian team have made it for the global finals on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 brought their maiden goal, it did not bring their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of arguably 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. How kind the group appears depends mostly on whether Italy progress through the UEFA 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 group stage in four of the last five tournaments and were quarter-finalists at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have individuals hoping to play at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having finished in fourth in their third phase qualification group, were handed a major advantage by being chosen as a host for the fourth phase and clinched qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn exclusively from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland first finals in 28 years looks a lot like their last appearance, when they lost to Brazil and Morocco; the Haitian team occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the knockout phase for the very first time after eight prior group phase exits. Haiti’s only previous finals, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a drugs test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited away support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that featured a run of three consecutive defeats, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualification these days. He has overseen a clear upturn in form. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the strongest of the north African sides, capable both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a 100% win record.

Pool D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a poor state, suffering defeats to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendlies. But over the last year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against Paraguay, who are competing in their 6th World Cup. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a record that has resulted to both group-stage eliminations and a quarter-final place. Their trademark cautious mindset hasn't altered: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most free-flowing Australian side and their squad lacks obvious stars, but despite an iffy start to the third phase of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their last two fixtures. The pool's fourth team will emerge from the winner of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After back-to-back group phase exits, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more progressive style has introduced a fragility and the draw initially looked like presenting a massive challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualification, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. While 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 mere five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever quite good 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. Following an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, scoring 25 goals without reply.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side perhaps lack the star quality of previous Dutch eras, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, consistently looks a more reliable player with his country's side than at club level. They open against Japan, who will participate in their 8th consecutive finals, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia secured of a third consecutive finals berth by dominating a manageable qualification group, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as dour as some past Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 separate scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the UEFA play-off (against Ukraine in the semi-final, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will set up a repeat of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Group G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are moving on from the legacy of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualifying, scoring 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 successful side in African history, but having not managed to reach the finals during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully fulfilled their potential on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defence that conceded only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who sailed through qualification, 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. Team Melli, who were defeated once in a difficult third-round qualifying group, are on a travel ban, possibly