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Group A

The first game at the iconic Azteca Stadium will mirror the opener from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's elimination stage history at the global showpiece features just one victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be aiming for a third last-eight appearance as tournament hosts. The South African side, led by experienced Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for using an suspended footballer.

This will mark South Korea's 11th consecutive World Cup appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and finished third in the Golden Ball award when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. He is now their coach and led them without a loss through a far from easy qualification group. The fourth side in Group A will be the winner of a European qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have made it for the World Cup twice and, although Qatar 2022 brought their maiden goal, it did not bring their first point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of arguably the most talented group of players in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which favorable the group appears depends mostly on whether Italy progress through the UEFA playoff (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 last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified without defeat from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast individuals aiming to feature at their fourth World Cups. The Qatari team, having finished fourth in their third-round qualifying section, were given a major boost by being chosen as a tournament host for the final phase and clinched progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected exclusively from the domestic 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 progress to the elimination stage for the first time after eight previous group-stage exits. Haiti’s sole previous 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 beaten by Haitian army officers before being deported. 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 included a run of three consecutive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a noticeable upturn in form. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the strongest of the north African sides, able both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a perfect win record.

Group D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a poor state, 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 across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their 6th finals. They have secured one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has led to both group-stage exits and a quarter-final appearance. Their trademark defensive mindset hasn't altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

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

Pool E

Following successive group-stage exits, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more progressive philosophy has introduced a fragility and the group initially looked like posing a massive challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualifying, ending up in second place behind Argentina in South America. While 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.

Ivory Coast 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. After an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, scoring 25 goals without reply.

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 lack the star quality of previous Dutch eras, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, always looks a more effective performer with his country's side than at domestic level. They begin against Japan, who will participate in their 8th successive finals, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia secured of a third consecutive World Cup appearance by topping a straightforward qualification section, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as dour as certain past Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 different scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the UEFA play-off (against Ukraine in the semi-final, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will create a rematch of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and the Pharaohs are moving on from the legacy of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualification, scoring the net eight times but letting in 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 decorated 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 global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defence that allowed just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified undefeated.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively meant a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who cruised through qualification, 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. Team Melli, who lost only once in a difficult third-round qualifying group, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly