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Pool A

The first game at the famous Azteca Stadium will echo the first game from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's knockout phase record at the global tournament features just one win, secured against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. Their coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be targeting a third-ever last-eight berth as tournament hosts. South Africa, led by experienced Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a win over Lesotho given against them for fielding an suspended footballer.

This will mark Korea Republic's 11th successive World Cup qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished in third place in the Best Player award when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their manager and guided them without a loss through a far from straightforward qualification group. The final team in Group A will be the victor of a European qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

The Canadian team have qualified for the World Cup on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 brought their maiden goal, it did not bring their first-ever 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 kind 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).

Following 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 qualified without defeat from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast individuals hoping to play at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having finished in fourth in their third phase qualifying group, were handed a significant boost by being chosen as a tournament host for the fourth phase and clinched qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn exclusively from the domestic league.

Pool C

Scotland first World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their previous appearance, when they lost to the Seleção and Morocco; the Haitian team occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the knockout phase for the first time after 8 previous group phase exits. Haiti’s only previous finals, 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 away support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualification process that included a streak of three consecutive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a clear upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the strongest of the north African sides, capable both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter, qualifying with a 100% win record.

Group 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 past year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently begun to get his message across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against Paraguay, who are playing in their sixth finals. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a quarter-final 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 side and their squad is without clear stars, but despite an iffy beginning to the third round of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by defeating 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 the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following back-to-back group-stage eliminations, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more attacking style has brought a fragility and the group initially looked like posing a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualifying, ending up in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although they netted 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 paltry five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever as good as the golden generation of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. Following an improbable continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, netting 25 goals and conceding none.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe lack the galacticos of previous Dutch eras, but they secured qualification without losing and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualification, always appears a more effective player with his country's side than at club level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will participate in their eighth successive World Cup, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games over the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third consecutive finals appearance by dominating a straightforward qualification group, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as defensive as some previous Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 different scorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the UEFA 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 executed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are emerging from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualification, finding 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 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 defence that conceded only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified undefeated.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who cruised 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. Team Melli, who were defeated once in a tricky third phase qualification section, are on a travel ban, possibly