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Group A

This initial game at the famous Azteca Stadium will replay the opener from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's elimination phase history at the worldwide showpiece features just a single victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be aiming for a third-ever quarter-final berth as hosts. South Africa, coached by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their first World Cup since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after having a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an ineligible footballer.

It will represent South Korea's 11th consecutive World Cup appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and finished in third place in the Best Player voting when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their manager and led them unbeaten through a anything but easy qualification group. The fourth side in Group A will be the victor of a UEFA qualifying play-off involving 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 goal, it did not bring their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the best squad in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the group looks hinges largely on whether the Italian national team make it through the UEFA play-off (the other 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the group stage in four of the last five tournaments and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat from arguably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players aiming to play at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having finished in fourth in their third phase qualifying group, were given a significant advantage by being chosen as a host for the final round and clinched progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is drawn entirely from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland's return to the finals in 28 years bears a lot like their last outing, when they were defeated to the Seleção and Morocco; the Haitian team occupy the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the elimination phase for the very first time after eight prior group-stage exits. Haiti’s sole prior World Cup, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a drugs test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited away support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third manager in a qualification campaign that featured a streak of three successive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a clear upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African nations, able both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a 100% win record.

Pool D

Early last year, the USA seemed in a poor state, 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 seemingly begun to get his message across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against Paraguay, who are playing in their 6th World Cup. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a record that has led to both group-stage eliminations and a last-eight place. Their trademark defensive mindset has not changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most free-flowing Australian team and their roster is without clear superstars, but despite an shaky start to the third phase of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their final two fixtures. The group’s fourth team will come from the victor of Europe’s playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After successive group phase eliminations, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more attacking style has brought a vulnerability and the group initially looked like posing a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualifying, finishing in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although 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.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of constant pessimism, where nothing is ever quite good as the glorious squad of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. After an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, netting 25 goals and conceding reply.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps do not possess the galacticos of previous Dutch generations, but they secured qualification without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, always appears a more reliable player with his national side than at domestic level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will play in their 8th consecutive World Cup, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualification, suffering one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third consecutive finals appearance by topping a straightforward qualifying group, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as dour as some previous Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 separate goalscorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress 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 stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are moving on from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualifying, finding the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, scoring easily at times, but also laboring to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most successful side in African history, but having not managed to reach the finals 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 cutting edge, but it was a defensive unit that conceded just twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania essentially equated to a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who cruised through qualification, 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. Team Melli, who lost once in a tricky third-round qualification section, are on a travel ban, possibly