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Group A

This first fixture at the iconic Azteca venue will mirror the opener from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's elimination stage history at the global showpiece features just a single victory, secured against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that squad and will be targeting a third quarter-final appearance as hosts. South Africa, led by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for using an suspended player.

It will mark Korea Republic's eleventh consecutive World Cup appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came third in the Best Player voting when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their coach and led them unbeaten through a anything but easy qualification group. The final team 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

The Canadian team have qualified for the World Cup twice and, while Qatar 2022 brought their maiden finals goal, it did not bring their first-ever finals point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of arguably the best group of players in their 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 European playoff (the other 3 teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have got through the initial phase in four of the last five World Cups and were last-eight participants at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified without defeat 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 World Cups. The Qatari team, having ended up fourth in their third phase qualifying group, were given a significant boost by being chosen as a tournament host for the fourth round and clinched progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn exclusively from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland return to the finals in 28 years bears a lot like their previous outing, when they were defeated to the Seleção and the Atlas Lions; Haiti occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the knockout stage for the very first time after eight prior group phase eliminations. Haiti’s only 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 sent back. They will have limited traveling support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualification campaign that featured a run of three successive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualification these days. He has overseen a noticeable improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the strongest of the north African sides, capable both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a 100% win record.

Group D

Early 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 apparently begun to get his message across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against Paraguay, who are playing in their sixth World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has resulted to both group-stage eliminations and a quarter-final place. Their familiar defensive mindset hasn't changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most free-flowing Australian side and their roster lacks obvious superstars, 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 last two matches. The group’s fourth team will come from the victor of Europe’s Play-off 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 attacking philosophy has introduced a vulnerability and the group initially looked like posing a massive challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations of qualification, finishing second behind Argentina in South America. Although they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a defence including Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a mere five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever as successful 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 implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, scoring 25 goals without reply.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe do not possess the galacticos of previous Dutch eras, but they secured qualification without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, always appears a more reliable player with his national side than at domestic level. They open against Japan, who will participate in their 8th successive World Cup, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games over the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third consecutive World Cup berth by topping a straightforward qualifying section, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as dour as certain previous Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 different goalscorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the European play-off (against Ukraine in the semi, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will set up a repeat of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Group G

The Belgian Red Devils and the Pharaohs are emerging from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, finding the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, finding goals easily 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 quite 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 reserved place for Oceania essentially meant 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 secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated once in a difficult third-round qualification section, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly