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Group A

The initial match at the historic Azteca venue will echo the first game from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's elimination stage history at the worldwide showpiece features just one win, secured against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. Their coach, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be targeting a third quarter-final berth as hosts. South Africa, coached by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their first finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for using an suspended player.

This will represent Korea Republic's 11th successive World Cup qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came third in the Best Player voting when South Korea made the last four in 2002. He is now their coach and led them unbeaten through a anything but straightforward qualifying section. The final team in Group A will be the victor of a European qualifying play-off featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have qualified for the global finals on two occasions 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 probably the best group of players in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the draw looks hinges largely on whether the Italian national team progress through the UEFA playoff (the other 3 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 last five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat 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 finished in fourth in their third phase qualification group, were given a major boost by being selected as a tournament host for the fourth phase and secured qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is drawn exclusively from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland's first finals in 28 years bears a lot like their previous appearance, when they were defeated to the Seleção and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team take the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination phase for the very first time after eight prior group phase exits. Haiti’s sole prior World Cup, in 1974, was remembered less for their three losses than for the fate that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a drugs test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have restricted traveling support due to travel restrictions from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying campaign that included a streak of three successive losses, 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, capable both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter, qualifying with a perfect win record.

Group D

At the start of 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 friendly matches. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against Paraguay, who are competing in their sixth World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a record that has resulted to both group-stage eliminations and a last-eight appearance. Their familiar cautious mindset has not altered: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most free-flowing Australia team and their roster is without obvious superstars, but despite an shaky start to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their final two matches. The group’s fourth team will emerge from the winner of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After back-to-back group-stage exits, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more attacking style has introduced a fragility and the draw initially looked like posing a massive challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations of qualification, finishing in second place 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.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of permanent declinism, where nothing is ever quite good as the glorious generation 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 triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, scoring 25 goals without reply.

The smallest country ever to reach the finals, the Curaçao team, were the final team picked, however, making the group look a lot far less intimidating than it might have been.

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps do not possess the galacticos of past Dutch eras, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, consistently appears a more reliable performer with his country's side than at domestic level. They begin against Japan, who will play in their 8th consecutive finals, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian sides in qualification, suffering one of their 16 games over the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third consecutive finals berth by topping a manageable qualifying group, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as defensive as some previous Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 separate goalscorers in qualification. 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 create a repeat of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and the Pharaohs are emerging from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualifying, finding the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, scoring freely 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 not managed 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 ensured they qualified undefeated.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who sailed through qualification, winning five games out of five, scoring 29 goals, nine of them by Chris Wood, but they are the lowest-ranked side to have booked their place in North America next summer. Team Melli, who were defeated only once in a tricky third-round qualifying section, are on a travel ban, potentially