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Group A

The initial game at the historic Azteca Stadium will replay the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's elimination phase history at the worldwide tournament includes just a single victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be aiming for a third quarter-final appearance as hosts. South Africa, coached by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial World Cup since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a win over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an suspended player.

It will mark Korea Republic's 11th straight finals qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came third in the Best Player voting when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. He is now their manager and led them unbeaten through a anything but easy qualification group. The final side in Group A will be the victor of a UEFA playoff involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have made it for the global finals on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 brought their first goal, it did not bring their first point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably 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 draw appears depends largely on whether the Italian national team progress through the UEFA playoff (the other three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have got through the group stage in four of the past five tournaments and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified without defeat from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast individuals aiming to feature at their fourth finals. Qatar, having ended up in fourth in their third phase qualification section, were given a significant boost by being chosen as a tournament host for the final round and secured progress with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is drawn entirely from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland first World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their previous outing, when they lost to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination stage for the first time after eight prior group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s sole previous World Cup, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a doping test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited traveling support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that included a streak of three consecutive losses, but there is little jeopardy in South American qualification these days. He has overseen a clear upturn in form. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the strongest of the north African nations, able both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter, qualifying with a perfect win record.

Group D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a poor 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 seemingly begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are competing 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 familiar defensive mindset has not altered: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most free-flowing Australian team and their squad is without obvious stars, but despite an shaky start to the third phase of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their final two fixtures. The group’s final team will emerge from the winner of the European playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

Following back-to-back group-stage exits, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more progressive philosophy has introduced a fragility and the draw initially looked like posing a huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualifying, ending up in second place behind Argentina in South America. While they netted only 14 goals in 18 games, a defence 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 permanent declinism, where nothing is ever as 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 inspirational. Following an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, scoring 25 goals and conceding reply.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps lack the galacticos of previous Dutch eras, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, consistently looks a more reliable performer with his country's side than at club level. They open against the Japanese team, who will participate in their eighth consecutive World Cup, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualification, losing one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia secured of a third straight finals appearance by dominating a manageable qualifying group, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as dour as some previous Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 different scorers 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 repeat of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are emerging from the legacy of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, scoring the net eight times but conceding 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 successful side in African football history, but having not managed to qualify during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defence that allowed only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively meant a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who cruised through qualifying, 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. Team Melli, who lost only once in a difficult third-round qualifying group, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially