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Group A

The opening fixture at the famous Azteca venue will mirror the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's knockout stage record at the worldwide showpiece features just one win, achieved against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts 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. South Africa, led by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a win over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an ineligible player.

It will represent South Korea's eleventh straight World Cup appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished third in the Best Player award when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. He is now their coach and guided them without a loss through a far from straightforward qualifying group. The final team in Group A will be the winner of a European qualifying play-off featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

The Canadian team have made it for the World Cup twice and, although Qatar 2022 brought their first finals goal, it did not bring their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the most talented squad in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the group appears depends largely on whether Italy progress through the European playoff (the remaining 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have got through the group stage in four of the past five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from probably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have individuals aiming to feature at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having ended up fourth in their third phase qualifying section, were handed a major advantage by being selected as a tournament host for the final round and clinched progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland's first World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their last outing, when they were defeated to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the elimination stage for the first time after 8 prior group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s only previous finals, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the fate 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 away support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualification process that featured a run of three successive losses, but there is minimal 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, capable both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a 100% record.

Group D

At the start of last year, the USA seemed in a poor state, 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 ideas across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will begin against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their sixth World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a record that has led to both group phase exits and a last-eight appearance. 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 fluent Australian team and their squad is without obvious superstars, but despite an iffy beginning 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 last two fixtures. The pool's final team will come from the victor of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

Following back-to-back group phase eliminations, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The transition 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 revelations of qualifying, finishing second 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, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a paltry five.

Ivory Coast live in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever quite successful as the golden squad of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. After an implausible continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, scoring 25 goals without none.

The smallest country ever to qualify, Curaçao, were the fourth team picked, though, making the group look a lot less intimidating than it might have been.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe do not possess the galacticos of previous Dutch generations, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, consistently looks a more reliable player with his country's side than at club level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will participate in their eighth consecutive World Cup, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third consecutive World Cup berth by topping a straightforward qualification group, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as dour as some previous Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 separate goalscorers in qualifying. 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 game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Group G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are moving on from the legacy of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, finding the net eight times but conceding 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 successful side in African history, but having failed to qualify during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite fulfilled their potential on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defensive unit that conceded only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania essentially meant 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-ranked side to have booked their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated only once in a difficult third-round qualifying group, are on a travel ban, possibly