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Group A

This initial game at the historic Azteca Stadium will replay the opener from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's elimination stage history at the worldwide tournament features just one victory, secured against Bulgaria when they previously hosted in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be aiming for a third last-eight appearance as hosts. The South African side, led by experienced Belgian manager Hugo Broos, secured their place for their first finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after having a win over Lesotho given against them for using an ineligible footballer.

This will represent South Korea's 11th successive World Cup qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came third in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea made the last four in 2002. Hong is now their coach and led them without a loss through a anything but straightforward qualification group. The final side in Group A will be the winner of a UEFA 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, while Qatar 2022 yielded their first goal, it did not bring their first-ever finals 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 draw looks hinges mostly on whether Italy progress through the European playoff (the remaining three contenders 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 past five World Cups and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from probably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players aiming to feature at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having finished in fourth in their third phase qualification section, were given a significant boost by being chosen as a host for the fourth phase and secured progress with a 2-1 win 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 appearance, when they were defeated to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the knockout stage for the very first time after 8 previous group-stage exits. Haiti’s sole prior World Cup, 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 drugs test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have restricted away 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 consecutive losses, but there is minimal risk in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a clear upturn in form. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African sides, able both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a 100% win record.

Pool D

At the start of last year, the USA seemed in a dismal condition, 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 beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their 6th finals. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has resulted to both group-stage eliminations and a quarter-final place. Their trademark cautious approach 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 lacks clear stars, but despite an iffy beginning to the third round of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side made it 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 winner of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

Following successive group-stage exits, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more progressive style has introduced a fragility and the draw initially looked like presenting a massive challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualifying, ending up in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline including Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a paltry five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of permanent declinism, where nothing is ever quite successful as the glorious squad of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. After an improbable continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, netting 25 goals without none.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps lack the star quality of past Dutch generations, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, always appears a more reliable player with his country's side than at domestic level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will play in their 8th consecutive finals, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian sides in qualification, suffering one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third consecutive World Cup appearance by dominating a manageable qualification group, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as dour as some past Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 different scorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the European playoff (against Ukraine in the semi-final, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will set up a rematch of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are emerging from the legacy 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, finding goals freely at times, but also struggling to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most decorated side in African football history, but having failed to reach the finals during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite fulfilled their potential on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that allowed only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified undefeated.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively meant a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who sailed through qualifying, winning five games out of five, netting 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 difficult third phase qualifying group, are on a travel ban, possibly