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Pool A

The initial match at the famous Azteca Stadium will replay the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's elimination phase history at the global tournament includes just one victory, secured against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third 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 despite having a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an ineligible player.

It will mark Korea Republic's eleventh consecutive finals appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came in third place in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. He is now their coach and guided them unbeaten through a anything but easy qualification section. The final team in Group A will be the victor of a UEFA qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

The Canadian team have qualified for the World Cup on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden goal, it did not bring their first point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the most talented group of players in their history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which favorable the group appears hinges mostly on whether the Italian national team make it through the UEFA playoff (the other three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have navigated the group stage 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 probably the most straightforward 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 in fourth in their third-round qualifying group, were given a significant advantage by being chosen as a host for the final phase and clinched progress with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected exclusively from the domestic league.

Group C

Scotland's return to the finals in 28 years bears a lot like their last outing, when they lost to the Seleção and Morocco; the Haitian team take the place of Norway. Their aim will be to make it to the knockout stage for the very first time after 8 previous group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s only prior finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the fate that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a drugs test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited away support due to travel restrictions from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third manager in a qualification campaign that included a run of three consecutive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a noticeable improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African nations, capable both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a perfect record.

Pool D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a poor condition, losing 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 message understood and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their sixth finals. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group-stage exits and a last-eight place. Their trademark 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 lacks obvious stars, but despite an iffy start to the third round of Asian qualification, 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 fourth team will come from the victor of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

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

Ivory Coast live in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever as good as the glorious generation 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 success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, netting 25 goals without none.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side perhaps lack the galacticos of previous Dutch generations, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, consistently looks a more effective performer with his country's side than at club level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will play in their eighth successive finals, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualification, losing one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third straight finals appearance by dominating a manageable qualification group, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as defensive as some previous Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 separate scorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the European play-off (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 performed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and the Pharaohs are moving on from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent 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 football history, but having failed to qualify during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully fulfilled their potential on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that conceded only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified undefeated.

A guaranteed place for Oceania essentially meant a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who sailed through qualifying, 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. Iran, who were defeated only once in a tricky third-round qualification group, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially