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Pool A

This initial game at the historic Azteca Stadium will echo the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's elimination stage history at the worldwide tournament features just a single victory, secured against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be targeting a third-ever last-eight berth as hosts. South Africa, led by experienced Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their first finals since they hosted, ending above Nigeria and Benin even after having a win over Lesotho given against them for using an ineligible player.

It will represent South Korea's eleventh consecutive World Cup qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came in third place in the Best Player voting when South Korea made the last four in 2002. Hong 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 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, although Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden goal, it did not deliver their first point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of arguably the best squad in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the group looks depends largely on whether the Italian national team progress through the European playoff (the other three contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have got through 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 booked their ticket unbeaten from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have individuals hoping to feature at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having ended up fourth in their third phase qualifying section, were handed a major advantage by being chosen as a host for the final phase and secured progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is drawn exclusively from the domestic league.

Pool C

Scotland's return to the World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their previous outing, when they lost to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; Haiti occupy the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the knockout stage for the first time after eight prior group phase exits. Haiti’s sole previous finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a doping test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have restricted traveling support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that featured a run of three consecutive defeats, but there is minimal risk in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a noticeable improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the strongest of the north African nations, able both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a perfect win record.

Pool D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a dismal condition, suffering defeats 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 seemingly begun to get his message understood and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their sixth World Cup. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a last-eight appearance. Their familiar cautious mindset hasn't changed: 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 clear stars, but in spite of an shaky start to the third phase of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their final two fixtures. The pool's final team will come from the victor of Europe’s playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

Following successive group phase eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the feared force of old. The shift to a more attacking philosophy has introduced a fragility and the draw initially looked like posing a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations of qualification, ending up in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although they netted 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, let in a mere five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever quite successful as the golden squad of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control 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 ruthless in qualification, netting 25 goals and conceding none.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side maybe lack the star quality of previous Dutch generations, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, always looks a more reliable player with his country's side than at club level. They open against the Japanese team, who will play in their eighth consecutive finals, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian sides in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games over the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third straight World Cup berth by topping a straightforward qualifying group, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as defensive as some previous Tunisian teams; they had a remarkable 14 separate scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the European 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 stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and the Pharaohs are moving on from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualifying, scoring the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, scoring 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 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 cutting edge, but it was a defensive unit 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 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. Iran, who lost only once in a tricky third-round qualification section, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly