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Group A

This opening match at the historic Azteca venue will mirror the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's knockout stage record at the global showpiece features just a single win, secured against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be targeting a third-ever quarter-final berth as tournament hosts. South Africa, led by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial World Cup since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an ineligible footballer.

It will represent South Korea's 11th straight finals qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came in third place in the Best Player voting when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. He is now their manager and guided them unbeaten through a far from easy qualifying group. The fourth 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.

Group B

The Canadian team have made it for the World Cup twice and, although Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden finals goal, it did not deliver their first-ever finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the best squad in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the group appears depends largely on whether the Italian national team progress 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 navigated the group stage in four of the last five tournaments and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have individuals aiming to feature at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having ended up in fourth in their third phase qualifying group, were handed a major boost by being selected as a tournament host for the fourth round and clinched progress with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is drawn exclusively from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland's return to the finals in 28 years looks a lot like their previous appearance, when they were defeated to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti occupy the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the knockout phase for the very first time after eight prior group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s only previous World Cup, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a drugs test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have limited away support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualification process that featured a streak of three consecutive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualification these days. He has overseen a clear improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African nations, capable both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a 100% win record.

Pool D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a dismal 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 message across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will begin against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their 6th finals. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a record that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a last-eight appearance. Their familiar cautious approach hasn't changed: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australia team and their roster lacks clear stars, but in spite of an iffy beginning 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 pool's final team will come from the winner of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following back-to-back group phase eliminations, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more attacking philosophy has introduced a fragility and the group initially looked like posing a massive challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualifying, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. While 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 quite good as the golden squad of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. After an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, netting 25 goals without none.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps do not possess the star quality of previous Dutch generations, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, consistently looks a more effective player with his country's side than at club level. They open against Japan, who will participate in their 8th successive finals, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third consecutive finals berth by topping a manageable qualifying section, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as defensive as some previous Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 separate scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the European play-off (against Ukraine in the semi-final, 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 executed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are moving on from the legacy of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, scoring the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, finding goals easily at times, but also struggling 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 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 defensive unit that conceded just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified undefeated.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively equated to 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 secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated once in a difficult third phase qualifying group, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially