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Pool A

This opening match at the famous Azteca venue will echo the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's elimination stage history at the worldwide tournament includes just a single win, secured against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that squad and will be aiming for a third-ever quarter-final berth as tournament hosts. The South African side, led by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their first finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after having a win over Lesotho awarded against them for using an suspended footballer.

It will represent Korea Republic's 11th straight finals qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came third in the Best Player award when South Korea made the last four in 2002. He is now their coach and guided them unbeaten through a anything but easy qualifying section. The fourth team in Group A will be the victor of a European 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 first goal, it did not deliver their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the best squad in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the group looks depends largely on whether Italy progress through the UEFA play-off (the remaining 3 teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the group stage in four of the past five tournaments and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified without defeat from arguably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players aiming to feature at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having ended up in fourth in their third-round qualification section, were handed a major boost by being chosen as a host for the final round and secured progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland's return to the World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their last outing, when they lost to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti occupy the spot of Norway. Their aim will be to make it to the elimination phase for the very first time after eight previous group phase exits. Haiti’s only prior World Cup, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a drugs test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited traveling support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualification campaign that included a streak of three consecutive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a clear upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the strongest of the north African sides, able both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a perfect record.

Pool D

At the start of last year, the USA seemed in a poor state, losing to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendly matches. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently begun to get his message understood and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against Paraguay, who are competing in their 6th World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase exits and a last-eight appearance. Their familiar cautious mindset hasn't changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian team and their roster lacks clear superstars, but in spite of an iffy beginning to the third phase of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their final two matches. The pool's final team will emerge from the winner of Europe’s playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After back-to-back group-stage exits, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more attacking philosophy has brought a fragility and the draw initially looked like presenting a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations of qualifying, ending up in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline including Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a mere five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of permanent declinism, where nothing is ever as good as the golden squad of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved transformative. Following an improbable continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, scoring 25 goals without reply.

The smallest country ever to reach the finals, the Curaçao team, were the fourth team picked, however, making the group look a lot less intimidating than it could have appeared.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe do not possess the galacticos of past Dutch eras, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, consistently appears a more reliable performer with his country's side than at domestic level. They open against the Japanese team, who will play in their 8th consecutive finals, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian sides in qualification, suffering one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third straight World Cup appearance by dominating a manageable qualifying section, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as defensive as some previous Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 different scorers 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 repeat of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are moving on from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualifying, scoring the net eight times but conceding 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 decorated side in African history, but having failed to qualify during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice 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 essentially meant a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who cruised through qualifying, 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 lost once in a difficult third-round qualifying group, are on a travel ban, possibly