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Group A

The first game at the iconic Azteca venue will mirror the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's elimination phase history at the worldwide showpiece features just one victory, secured against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that squad and will be aiming for a third-ever last-eight berth as hosts. South Africa, coached by experienced Belgian manager Hugo Broos, secured their place for their first finals since they hosted, ending above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a victory over Lesotho given against them for fielding an suspended footballer.

It will represent South Korea's eleventh successive World Cup appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came in third place in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. He is now their coach and led them unbeaten through a anything but straightforward qualifying group. The fourth side 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 made it for the global finals on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 brought their maiden goal, it did not deliver their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of arguably the most talented group of players in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the draw appears hinges mostly on whether Italy make it through the European play-off (the other three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have got through the group stage in four of the last five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from arguably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players aiming to play at their fourth finals. Qatar, having finished fourth in their third-round qualifying group, were handed a major boost by being selected as a host for the final phase and secured progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected exclusively from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland's return to the finals in 28 years bears a lot like their last appearance, when they lost to Brazil and Morocco; Haiti take the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the knockout stage for the first time after 8 prior group phase exits. Haiti’s only 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 beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have restricted away support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third manager in a qualifying campaign that featured a run of three consecutive losses, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualification these days. He has presided over a noticeable improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the strongest of the north African sides, able both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a perfect win record.

Pool D

At the start of last year, the USA seemed in a poor condition, 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 seemingly begun to get his ideas understood and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their sixth World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the previous five, a record that has resulted to both group-stage exits and a quarter-final place. Their trademark cautious mindset has not altered: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australia side and their roster lacks obvious stars, but despite an iffy start to the third phase of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their last two fixtures. The pool's final team will come from the winner of Europe’s playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

Following successive group phase exits, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more progressive philosophy has brought a fragility and the draw initially looked like posing a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualification, finishing in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although 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, let in a mere five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever as 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 inspirational. After an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, scoring 25 goals without reply.

The smallest country ever to qualify, the Curaçao team, were the fourth team picked, however, making the group look a lot far less daunting than it could have been.

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side maybe lack the star quality of previous Dutch generations, but they secured qualification without losing and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualification, always appears a more effective player with his national side than at club level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will play in their eighth successive finals, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian sides in qualification, suffering one of their 16 games over the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third straight finals appearance by topping a straightforward qualification section, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as dour as certain past Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 separate goalscorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it 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

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are moving on from the legacy of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualification, 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 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 attacking threat, but it was a defence that conceded just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively meant a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who cruised 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. Team Melli, who lost only once in a difficult third phase qualification group, are on a travel ban, possibly